THE  AMERICAN  BOOKS 

A  LIBRARY  OF  GOOD  CITIZENSHIP 

"  The  American  Books"  are  designed  as  a 
series  of  authoritative  manuals,  discussing 
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THE  AMERICAN  BOOKS 

THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  BY  ISAAC  SHARPLESS 

VTHE  INDIAN   TO-DAY  BY  CHARLES  A.  EASTMAN 

COST  OF  LIVING  BY  FABIAN  FRANKLIN 

THE  AMERICAN  NAVY  BY  REAR-ADMIRAL   FRENCH 

E.  CHADWICK,  U.  S.  N. 

MUNICIPAL  FREEDOM  BY  OSWALD  RYAN 

AMERICAN  LITERATURE  BY  LEON  KELLNER 

(TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN  BY  JULIA  FRANKLIN) 

SOCIALISM  IN  AMERICA  BY  JOHN  MACY 

AMERICAN  IDEALS  BY  CLAYTON  S.  COOPER 

THE  UNIVERSITY  MOVEMENT  BY  IRA  REMSEN 

THE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  BY  WALTER  S.  HINCHMAN 

(/or  more  extended  notice  of  the  series,  see  the  last  pages 
of  this  book.) 


T 

The  American  Books 

The  Indian  Today 

The  Past  and  Future  of 
the  First  American 


BY 

CHARLES  A.  EASTMAN  (OHIYESA) 

Author  of 
"Old  Indian  Days"  "Indian  Boyhood"  etc. 


GARDEN   CITY  NEW    YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 
1915 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of 

translation  into  foreign  languages, 

including  the  Scandinavian 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

The  author  of  this  book  was  born  in  a  teepee 
of  buffalo  hide  near  Redwood  Falls,  Minn., 
during  the  winter  of  1858.  His  father  was  a 
full-blooded  Sioux  called  "Many  Lightnings," 
(Tawakanhdeota).  His  mother,  the  grand 
daughter  of  Chief  "Cloud  Man"  of  the  Sioux 
and  daughter  of  a  well-known  army  officer, 
died  shortly  after  his  birth.  He  was  named 
Ohiyesa  (The  Winner). 

The  baby  was  reared  to  boyhood  by  the  care 
of  his  grandmother.  When  he  was  four  years 
old,  the  so-called  "Minnesota  massacre"  of 
1862  separated  him  from  his  father  and  elder 
brothers  and  only  sister,  and  drove  him  with  a 
remnant  of  the  eastern  Sioux  into  exile  in  Mani 
toba.  There  for  over  ten  years  he  lived  the 
original  nomadic  life  of  his  people  in  the  family 
of  an  uncle,  from  whom  he  received  the  Spartan 
training  of  an  Indian  youth  of  that  day.  The 
knowledge  thus  gained  of  life's  realities  and  the 
secrets  of  nature,  as  well  as  of  the  idealistic 


vi  Biographical  Note 

philosophy  of  the  Indian,  he  has  always  regarded 
as  a  most  valuable  part  of  his  education. 

When  Ohiyesa  had  reached  the  age  of  fifteen 
years,  and  had  been  presented  with  a  flint-lock 
musket  in  token  of  his  arrival  at  the  estate  of 
young  manhood,  he  was  astonished  by  the  re 
appearance  of  the  father  whose  supposed  death 
at  the  hands  of  white  men  he  had  been  taught 
that  he  must  some  day  avenge.  He  learned 
that  this  father  had  adopted  the  religion  and 
customs  of  the  hated  race,  and  was  come  to 
take  home  his  youngest  son. 

Ohiyesa's  new  home  was  a  pioneer  log  cabin 
on  a  farm  at  Flandreau,  Dakota  Territory, 
where  a  small  group  of  progressive  Indians  had 
taken  up  homesteads  like  white  men  and  were 
earning  an  independent  livelihood.  His  long 
hair  was  cropped,  he  was  put  into  a  suit  of  citi 
zen's  clothing  and  sent  off  to  a  mission  day 
school.  At  first  reluctant,  he  soon  became  in 
terested,  and  two  years  later  voluntarily  walked 
150  miles  to  attend  a  larger  and  better  school 
at  Santee,  Neb.,  where  he  made  rapid  prog 
ress  under  the  veteran  missionary  educator, 
Dr.  Alfred  L.  Riggs,  and  was  soon  advanced  to 
the  preparatory  department  of  Beloit  College, 
Wisconsin.  His  father  had  adopted  his  wife's 


Biographical  Note  vii 

English  name  of  Eastman,  and  the  boy  named 
himself  Charles  Alexander. 

After  two  years  at  Beloit,  young  Eastman 
went  on  to  Knox  College,  111.;  then  east  to 
Kimball  Union  Academy  in  New  Hampshire, 
and  to  Dartmouth  College,  where  Indians  had 
found  a  special  welcome  since  colonial  days.  He 
was  graduated  from  Dartmouth  in  1887,  and 
went  immediately  to  Boston  University,  where 
he  took  the  medical  course,  and  was  graduated 
in  1890  as  orator  of  his  class.  The  entire  time 
spent  in  primary,  preparatory,  college,  and  pro 
fessional  education,  including  the  mastery  of  the 
English  language,  was  seventeen  years,  or  about 
two  years  less  than  is  required  by  the  average 
white  youth. 

Doctor  Eastman  went  directly  to  the  large 
Pine  Ridge  reservation  in  South  Dakota  as 
Government  physician;  and  during  the  "Ghost 
dance"  troubles  of  1890-91  he  was  in  charge  of 
the  wounded  Indian  prisoners  in  their  emergency 
hospital.  In  1891  he  married  Miss  Elaine 
Goodale  of  Berkshire  County,  Mass.;  and 
in  1893  went  to  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  with  his 
wife  and  child.  While  engaged  there  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  he  was  approached  by  a 
representative  of  the  International  Committee 


viii  Biographical  Note 

of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  served  for  three  years 
as  their  field  secretary  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada. 

In  1897  Dr.  Eastman  went  to  Washington 
as  attorney  for  his  tribe,  to  push  their  interests 
at  the  national  capital,  and  from  1899  to  1902 
he  served  again  as  a  Government  physician  to 
the  Sioux.  Beginning  in  1903,  he  spent  about 
seven  years  giving  permanent  family  names  to 
the  Sioux,  and  thus  helping  to  establish  the  legal 
descent  of  their  property,  under  the  direction 
of  the  Indian  Bureau. 

His  first  book,  "Indian  Boyhood,"  was  pub 
lished  in  1902.  It  is  the  story  of  his  own  early 
life  in  the  wilds  of  Canada,  and  was  the  out 
growth  of  several  sketches  which  appeared  in 
St.  Nicholas  a  few  years  earlier.  Since  that 
time  he  has  written  "Red  Hunters  and  the 
Animal  People"  (1904),  "Old  Indian  Days" 
(1906),  "Wigwam  Evenings"  (1909),  "The 
Soul  of  the  Indian"  (1911),  and  "Indian  Scout 
Talks"  (1914).  All  have  been  successful,  and 
some  have  been  brought  out  in  school  editions, 
and  translated  into  French,  German,  Danish, 
and  Bohemian.  He  has  also  contributed  nu 
merous  articles  to  magazines,  reviews,  and  en 
cyclopedias. 


Biographical  Note  ix 

In  connection  with  his  writings  he  has  been  in 
steady  demand  as  a  lecturer  and  public  speaker 
for  the  past  twelve  years,  and  has  recently 
devoted  his  entire  time  to  literary  work  and 
lecturing,  with  the  purpose  of  interpreting  his 
race  to  the  present  age. 

When  the  first  Universal  Races  Congress 
was  held  in  the  city  of  London  in  1911,  Dr. 
Eastman  was  chosen  to  represent  the  American 
Indian  at  that  historic  gathering.  He  is  gen 
erally  recognized  as  the  foremost  man  of  his 
race  to-day,  and  as  an  authority  on  the  history, 
customs,  and  traditions  of  the  native  Americans. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    THE  INDIAN  AS  HE  WAS  3 
II.    THE  How  AND  THE  WHY  OF  IN 
DIAN  WARS 19 

\lll.    THE  AGENCY  SYSTEM:  ITS  USES 

AND  ABUSES  ......  34 

\  IV.    THE  NEW  INDIAN  POLICY     .     .  49 

V.     THE  INDIAN  IN  SCHOOL    ...  64 

VI.    THE  INDIAN  AT  HOME      .     .     .  81 

VII.    THE  INDIAN  AS  A  CITIZEN    .     .  95 

VIII.    THE  INDIAN  IN  COLLEGE  AND 

THE  PROFESSIONS     .      .     .      .  115 

MX.    THE  INDIAN'S  HEALTH  PROBLEM  135 

X.    NATIVE  ARTS  AND  INDUSTRIES    .  148 
XL    THE  INDIAN'S  GIFTS  TO  THE 

NATION 164 

BIBLIOGRAPHY i?9 

TABLE  OF  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS.  183 


THE  INDIAN  TO-DAY 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  INDIAN  AS  HE  WAS 

IT  is  the  aim  of  this  book  to  set  forth  the  present 
status  and  outlook  of  the  North  American 
Indian.  In  one  sense  his  is  a  "vanishing  race." 
In  another  and  an  equally  true  sense  it  is  a 
thoroughly  progressive  one,  increasing  in  num 
bers  and  vitality,  and  awakening  to  the  demands 
of  a  new  life.  It  is  time  to  ask:  What  is  his 
national  asset?  What  position  does  he  fill  in 
the  body  politic?  What  does  he  contribute,  if 
anything,  to  the  essential  resources  of  the 
American  nation? 

In  order  to  answer  these  questions,  we  ought, 
first,  to  consider  fairly  his  native  environment, 
temperament,  training,  and  ability  in  his  own 
lines,  before  he  resigned  himself  to  the  inevitable 
and  made  up  his  mind  to  enter  fully  into  mem 
bership  in  this  great  and  composite  nation. 
If  we  can  see  him  as  he  was,  we  shall  be  the 
better  able  to  see  him  as  he  is,  and  by  the  worth 

3 


4  The  Indian  Today 

of  his  native  excellence  measure  his  contribution 
to  the  common  stock. 

In  the  first  place,  he  is  free  born,  hence  a 
free  thinker.  His  government  is  a  pure  democ 
racy,  based  solidly  upon  intrinsic  right  and 
justice,  which  governs,  in  his  conception,  the 
play  of  life.  I  use  the  word  "  play  "  rather  than 
a  more  pretentious  term,  as  better  expressing 
the  trend  of  his  philosophy.  He  stands  naked 
and  upright,  both  literally  and  symbolically, 
before  his  "Great  Mystery."  When  he  fails  in 
obedience  either  to  natural  law  (which  is  su 
preme  law),  or  to  the  simple  code  of  his  brother 
man,  he  will  not  excuse  himself  upon  a  techni 
cality  or  lie  to  save  his  miserable  body.  He 
comes  to  trial  and  punishment,  even  to  death, 
if  need  be,  unattended,  and  as  cheerfully  as  to 
a  council  or  feast. 

As  a  free  man  himself,  he  allows  others  the 
same  freedom.  With  him  the  spiritual  life  is 
paramount,  and  all  material  things  are  only 
means  to  the  end  of  its  ultimate  perfection. 
Daily  he  meets  the  "Great  Mystery"  at  morn 
ing  and  evening  from  the  highest  hilltop  in 
the  region  of  his  home.  His  attitude  toward 
Deity  is  simple  and  childlike. 

Social  life  is  kept  as  simple  as  possible,  free- 


The  Indian  as  He  Was  5 

dom  of  action  only  curbed  by  reverence  for 
Those  Above,  and  respect  for  the  purity  and 
perfection  of  his  own  body  and  those  of  his 
fellow-creatures.  Only  such  laws  are  made  as 
have  been  found  necessary  to  guard  personal 
and  tribal  purity  and  honor.  The  women  do 
not  associate  freely  with  men  outside  of  the 
family,  and  even  within  it  strict  decorum  is 
observed  between  grown  brothers  and  sisters. 
Birth  and  marriage  are  guarded  with  a  peculiar 
sacredness  as  mysterious  events.  Strenuous 
out-of-door  life  and  the  discipline  of  war  subdue 
the  physical  appetites  of  the  men,  ajid  self- 
control  is  regard ed_a__s  a  religious  duty.  Among 
the  Sioux  it  was  originally  held  that  children 
should  not  be  born  into  a  family  oftener  than 
once  in  three  years,  and  no  woman  was  expected 
to  bear  more  than  five  children,  for  whom  both 
masculine  and  feminine  names  were  provided 
to  indicate  the  order  of  their  birth. 

The  Indian,  in  his  simple  philosophy,  was 
careful  to  avoid  a  centralized  population,  where 
in  lies  civilization's  devil.  He  would  not  be 
forced  to  accept  materialism  as  the  basic  prin 
ciple  of  his  life,  but  preferred  to  reduce  existence 
to  its  simplest  terms.  His  roving  out-of-door 
life  was  more  precarious,  no  doubt,  than  life 


6  The  Indian  To-day 

reduced  to  a  system,  a  mechanical  routine;  yet 
in  his  view  it  was  and  is  infinitely  happier.  To 
be  sure,  this  philosophy  of  his  had  its  disadvan 
tages  and  obvious  defects,  yet  it  was  reasonably 
consistent  with  itself,  which  is  more  than  can 
be  said  for  our  modern  civilization.  He  knew 
that  virtue  is  essential  to  the  maintenance  of 
physical  excellence,  and  that  strength,  in  the 
sense  of  endurance  and  vitality,  underlies  all 
genuine  beauty.  He  was  as  a  rule  prepared  to 
volunteer  his  services  at  any  time  in  behalf  of 
his  fellows,  at  any  cost  of  inconvenience  and  real 
hardship,  and  thus  to  grow  in  personality  and 
soul-culture.  Generous  to  the  last  mouthful 
of  food,  fearless  of  hunger,  suffering,  and 
death,  he  was  surely  something  of  a  hero.  Not 
"to  have,"  but  "to  be,"  was^his  national  motto. 
~~As  parents  are  responsible  for  the  conduct  of 
their  children,  so  was  the  Indian  clan  responsible 
for  the  behavior  of  its  members,  both  among 
themselves  and  in  relation  to  other  clans.  This 
simple  family  government  extended  throughout 
the  bands,  tribes,  and  nations.  There  was  no 
"politics"  and  no  money  in  it  for  any  one. 
The  conscience  was  never  at  war  with  the  mind, 
and  no  undue  advantage  was  sought  by  any 
individual.  Justice  must  be  impartial;  hence 


The  Indian  as  He  Was  7 

if  the  accused  alone  knew  the   facts,  it  was  a 
common  thing  for  him  to  surrender  himself. 


INTERTRIBAL    WARFARE 


As  regards  the  original  Indian  warfare,  it 
was  founded  upon  the  principle  of  manly  rivalry 
{^patriotism,  bravery,  and  self-sacrifice.  The 
willingness  to  risk  life  for  the  welfare  or  honor 
of  the  people  was  the  highest  test  of  character. 
In  order  that  the  reputations  thus  gained  might 
be  preserved  as  an  example  to  the  young,  a 
system  of  decorations  was  evolved,  including 
the  symbolic  wearing  of  certain  feathers  and 
skins,  especially  eagle  feathers,  and  the  con 
ferring  of  "honor  names"  for  special  exploits. 
These  distinctions  could  not  be  gained  unjustly 
or  by  favoritism,  as  is  often  the  case  with  rank 
and  honors  among  civilized  men,  since  the  deeds 
claimed  must  be  proved  by  witnesses  before  the 
grand  council  of  war  chiefs*  If  one  strikes  an 
enemy  in  battle,  whether  he  kills  him  or  not, 
he  must  announce  the  fact  in  a  loud  voice,  so 
that  it  may  be  noted  and  remembered.  The 
danger  and  difficulty  is  regarded  above  the 
amount  of  damage  inflicted  upon  the  enemy, 
and  a  man  may  wear  the  eagle  plumes  who  has 
never  taken  a  life. 


8  The  Indian  To-day 

It  is  easily  seen  that  these  intertribal  contests 
were  not  based  upon  the  same  motives  nor 
waged  for  the  same  objects  as  the  wars  of  civili 
zation — namely,  for  spoil  and  territorial  ag 
grandizement.  There  was  no  mass  play;  army 
was  not  pitted  against  army;  individual  valor 
was  held  in  highest  regard.  It  was  not  usual 
to  take  captives,  except  occasionally  of  women 
and  children,  who  were  adopted  into  the  tribe 
and  treated  with  kindness.  There  was  no 
traffic  in  the  labor  or  flesh  of  prisoners.  Such 
warfare,  in  fact,  was  scarcely  more  than  a  series 
of  duels  or  irregular  skirmishes,  engaged  in  by 
individuals  and  small  groups,  and  in  many  cases 
was  but  little  rougher  than  a  game  of  university 
football.  Some  were  killed  because  they  were 
caught,  or  proved  weaker  and  less  athletic  than 
their  opponents.  It  was  one  way  of  disciplin 
ing  a  man  and  working  off  the  superfluous 
energy  that  might  otherwise  lead  to  domestic 
quarrels.  If  he  met  his  equal  or  superior  and 
was  slain,  fighting  bravely  to  the  end,  his 
friends  might  weep  honorable  tears. 

The  only  atrocity  of  this  early  warfare  was 
the  taking  of  a  small  scalp  lock  by  the  leader, 
as  a  semi-religious  trophy  of  the  event;  and  as 
long  as  it  was  preserved,  the  Sioux  warriors  wore 


The  Indian  as  He  Was  9 

mourning  for  their  dead  enemy.  Not  all  the 
tribes  took  scalps.  It  was  only  after  the  boun 
ties  offered  by  the  colonial  governments,  notably 
in  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania,  for  scalps 
of  women  and  children  as  well  as  men,  that  the 
practice  became  general,  and  led  to  further 
mutilations,  often  stigmatized  as  "Indian," 
though  in  reality  they  have  been  practised  by 
so-called  civilized  nations  down  to  a  recent 
period.  That  one  should  do  murder  for  pay  is 
not  an  Indian  idea  but  one  imposed  upon  the 
race  by  white  barbarians. 

It  was  a  custom  of  the  Plains  Indians  to  hold 
peaceful  meetings  in  summer,  at  which  times 
they  would  vie  with  one  another  in  friendliness 
and  generosity.  Each  family  would  single  out 
a  family  of  another  tribe  as  special  guests  of 
honor.  Valuable  horses  and  richly  adorned 
garments  were  freely  given  at  the  feasts  and 
dances.  During  these  intertribal  reunions  the 
contests  between  the  tribes  were  recalled  and 
their  events  rehearsed,  the  dead  heroes  on  both 
sides  receiving  special  tributes  of  honor.  Par 
ents  would  entertain  the  participants  in  an 
engagement  in  which  their  son  had  fallen,  per 
haps,  the  year  before,  giving  lavish  hospitality 
and  handsome  presents  in  token  that  all  was 


io  The  Indian  To-day 

done  in  fair  fight,   and  there  remained  no  ill 
feeling. 

FIRST    EFFECTS    OF    CIVILIZATION 

Whatever  may  be  said  for  this  scheme  of  life, 
its  weaknesses  are  very  apparent,  and  resulted 
in  its  early  fall  when  confronted  with  the  com 
plicated  system  of  our  so-called  civilization. 
With  us  the  individual  was  supreme;  all  com 
bination  was  voluntary  in  its  nature;  there  was 
no  commerce  worthy  the  name,  no  national 
wealth,  no  taxation  for  the  support  of  govern 
ment,  and  the  chiefs  were  merely  natural  leaders 
with  much  influence  but  little  authority.  The 
system  worked  well  with  men  who  were  all  of 
the  same  mind,  but  in  the  face  of  a  powerful 
government  and  an  organized  army  it  quickly 
disintegrated  and  collapsed.  Could  the  many 
small  tribes  and  bands  have  formed  a  stable 
combination  or  league,  they  might  have  suc 
cessfully  resisted  the  invader;  but  instead  they 
stood  separately,  though  too  weak  to  maintain 
their  dignity  by  force,  and  in  many  cases  entered 
upon  a  devastating  warfare  with  one  another, 
using  the  new  and  more  deadly  weapons,  thus 
destroying  one  another.  Since  there  was  no 
central  government,  but  a  series  of  loose  con- 


The  Indian  as  He  Was  n 

federations  of  linguistic  or  allied  groups,  each  of 
which  had  its  titular  head,  able  to  make  treaties 
or  to  declare  war,  these  bands  were  met  and  sub 
dued  one  at  a  time. 

The  original  North  American  knew  no  fer 
mented  or  spirituous  drink.  To  be  sure,  he  used 
a  mild  narcotic — tobacco  mixed  with  aromatic 
leaves  or  bark,  and  smoked  in  strict  moderation, 
generally  as  a  semi-religious  ceremony.  Though 
wild  grapes  were  found  here  in  abundance,  none 
had  ever  made  wine  from  them.  The  intro 
duction  of  liquor  completed  the  ruin  of  our 
race. 

During  a  long  period  the  fur  trade  was  an 
important  factor  in  the  world's  commerce,  and 
accordingly  the  friendship  and  favor  of  the 
natives  were  eagerly  sought  by  the  leading 
nations  of  Europe.  Great  use  was  made  of 
whiskey  and  gunpowder  as  articles  of  trade.^ 
Demoralization  was  rapid..  Many  tribes  were 
decimated  and  others  wiped  out  entirely  by  the 
ravages  of  strong  drink  and  disease,  especially 
smallpox  and  cholera.  The  former  was  terribly- 
fatal.  The  Indians  knew  nothing  of  its  nature 
or  treatment,  and  during  the  nineteenth  century 
the  tribes  along  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri 
rivers  suffered  severely.  Even  in  my  own  day 


12  The  Indian  To-day 

I  have  seen  and  talked  with  the  few  desolate 
survivors  of  a  thriving  village. 

In  the  decade  following  1840  cholera  ravaged 
the  tribes  dwelling  along  the  great  waterways. 
Venereal  disease  followed  upon  the  frequent 

•  immoralities  of  white  soldiers  and  frontiersmen. 

•  As  soon  as  the  Indian  came  into  the  reservation 

•  and  adopted  an  indoor  mode  of  life,  bronchitis 

•  and  pneumonia  worked  havoc  with  him,  and 
.    that  scourge  of  the  present-day  red  man,  tuber- 

•  culosis,  took  its  rise  then  in  overcrowded  log 

•  cabins  and  insanitary  living,  together  with  in- 

•  sufficient  and  often  unwholesome  food.     During 
this  period  there  was  a  rapid  decline  in  the 
Indian  population,  leading  to  the  now  discred 
ited  theory  that  the  race  was  necessarily  "dying 
out"  from  contact  with  civilization. 

It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  first 
effect  of  association  with  the  more  advanced 
race  was  not  improvement  but  degeneracy. 
I  have  no  wish  to  discredit  the  statements  of 
the  early  explorers,  including  the  Jesuit  priests; 
but  it  is  evident  that  in  the  zeal  of  the  latter  to 
gain  honor  for  their  society  for  saving  the  souls 
of  the  natives  it  was  almost  necessary  to  repre 
sent  them  as  godless  and  murderous  savages — 
otherwise  there  would  be  no  one  to  convert! 


The  Indian  as  He  Was  13 

Of  course  they  were  not  angels,  but  I  think  I 
have  made  it  clear  that  they  were  a  God-fearing, 
clean,  and  honorable  people  before  the  coming 
of  the  white  man. 

THE    TRANSITION    PERIOD 

The  transition  from  their  natural  Hfe^to  the 
artificial  life  of  civilization  has  been  very  gradual 
in  most  cases,  until  the  last  fifty  years,  when 
the  changes  have  been  more  rapid.  Those  who 
were  first  affected  were  the  so-called  "Five 
Civilized  Nations'*  of  the  South,  and  the  "Six 
Nations"  of  New  York  State,  together  with 
some  of  the  now  extinct  bands  in  New  England, 
who  came  in  close  touch  with  the  early  colonists. 
Both  politically  and  commercially,  they  played 
an  important  part  in  the  settlement  of  America. 
Their  services  as  scouts,  guides,  and  allies  were 
of  great  value  in  the  early  history  of  this  coun 
try,  and  down  to  recent  years.  Many  received 
no  salary,  and  some  even  furnished  their  own 
horses.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  there  is 
not  one  instance  on  record  of  a  scout  betraying 
the  cauje  he  served,  even  though  used  against 
his  own  tribe  and  his  own  relatives.  Once  his 
honor  is  pledged  to  a  public  trust,  he  must  sus 
tain  it  at  any  cost. 


14  The  Indian  To-day 

In  many  cases  those  tribes  which  declared 
allegiance  to  the  French,  the  English,  or  the 
Americans,  were  in  their  turn  the  means  of 
bringing  a  neighboring  tribe  into  subjection. 
Thus  began  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the 
Indian,  inaugurating  a  kind  of  warfare  that  was 
cruel,  relentless,  and  demoralizing,  since  it  was 
based  upon  the  desire  to  conquer  and  to  despoil 
the  conquered  of  his  possessions — a  motive  un 
known  to  the  primitive  American. 

To  be  sure  the  new  weapons  were  more 
efficient,  and  therefore  more  deadly;  the  new 
clothing  was  gayer,  but  less  perfectly  adapted 
to  the  purposes  of  primitive  life.  Indeed,  the 
buckskin  clothing  and  moccasins  of  the  Indian 
were  very  generally  adopted  by  the  white  fron 
tiersman.  On  the  other  hand,  his  spiritual  and 
moral  loss  was  great.  He  who  listened  to  the 
preaching  of  the  missionaries  came  to  believe 
that  the  white  man  alone  has  a  real  God,  and 
that  the  things  he  had  hitherto  held  sacred  are 
inventions  of  the  devil.  This  undermined  the 
foundations  of  his  philosophy,  and  very  often 
without  substituting  for  it  the  Christian  philos 
ophy,  which  the  inconsistency  of  its  advocates, 
rather  than  any  innate  quality,  made  it  difficult 
for  him  to  accept  or  understand. 


The  Indian  as  He  Was  15 

A  few  did,  in  good  faith,  accept  the  white 
man's  God.  The  black-robed  preacher  was  like 
the  Indian  himself  in  seeking  no  soft  things, 
and  as  he  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  tribes  in 
the  wilderness,  the  tribesmen  learned  to  trust 
and  to  love  him.  Then  came  other  missionaries 
who  had  houses  to  sleep  in,  and  gardens  planted, 
and  who  hesitated  to  sleep  in  the  Indian's  wig 
wam  or  eat  of  his  wild  meat,  but  for  the  most 
part  held  themselves  aloof  and  urged  their  own 
dress  and  ways  upon  their  converts.  These, 
too,  had  their  following  in  due  time.  But  in  the 
main  it  is  true  that  while  the  Indian  eagerly 
sought  guns  and  gunpowder,  knives  and  whiskey, 
a  few  articles  of  dress,  and,  later,  horses,  he  did 
not  of  himself  desire  the  white  man's  food,  his 
houses,  his  books,  his  government,  or  his  religion. 

The  two  great  "civilizers,"  after  all,  were 
whiskey  and  gunpowder,  and  from  the  hour  the 
red  man  accepted  these  he  had  in  reality  sold 
his  birthright,  and  all  unconsciously  consented 
to  his  own  ruin.  Immediately  his  manhood 
began  to  crumble.  A  few  chiefs  undertook  to 
copy  some  of  the  European  ways,  on  the  strength 
of  treaty  recognition.  The  medals  and  parch 
ments  received  at  such  times  were  handed  down 
from  father  to  son,  and  the  sons  often  disputed 


16  The  Indian  To-day 

^as  to  who  should  succeed  the  father,  ignoring 
the  rule  of  seniority  and  refusing  to  submit  to 
the  election  of  the  council.  There  were  in 
stances  during  the  nineteenth  century  in  the 
vicinity  of  Chicago,  Prairie  du  Chien,  Saint  Paul, 
and  Kansas  City,  where  several  brothers  quar 
relled  and  were  in  turn  murdered  in  drunken 
rows.  There  was  also  trouble  when  the  United 
States  undertook  to  appoint  a  head  chief  with 
out  the  consent  of  the  tribe.  Chief  Hole-in-the- 
Day  of  the  Ojibways  and  Spotted  Tail  of  the 
Brule  Sioux  were  both  killed  by  tribesmen  for 
breaking  the  rule  of  their  respective  tribes  and 
accepting  favors  from  the  Government. 

Intermarriages  were  not  common  among  the 
different  tribes  in  the  old  days,  and  still  less  so 
between  Indians  and  Caucasians.  The  earlier 
intermarriages  were  with  the  higher  class  of 
Europeans:  officers,  noblemen,  etc.,  and  many 
of  the  offspring  of  these  unions  were  highly 
esteemed,  some  becoming  chiefs.  At  this  period 
the  natives  preferred  their  own  marriage  cus 
toms,  which  was  convenient  for  the  white  officers 
who  were  thus  enabled  to  desert  their  wives  and 
children  when  they  chose,  and  often  did  so, 
quite  as  if  there  were  no  binding  obligation. 
Later,  when  unions  between  the  lower  class  of 


The  Indian  as  He  Was  17 

both  races  became  common,  the  Sioux  refused 
to  recognize  their  half-breeds  as  members  of 
the  tribe,  and  a  certain  territory  was  set  apart 
for  them.  These  half-breeds  disposed  of  their 
land  to  the  Government,  and  took  instead  cer 
tificates  entitling  them  to  locate  upon  the  public 
domain.  Some  thirty  years  afterward  they  re 
turned  to  their  mother  tribe  and  were  allowed 
full  rights  as  members  of  their  respective  bands. 

Except  among  the  French  Canadians,  in  no 
section  has  there  been  such  a  general  intermin 
gling  of  the  blood  of  the  two  races  as  in  the 
Southern  States.  The  Virginia  legislature  early 
recognized  intermarriages  between  whites  and 
Indians,  and  from  the  time  of  Pocahontas  to 
this  day  some  of  the  best  families  have  married 
among  Cherokees,  Chickasaws,  and  Choctaws, 
and  are  proud  of  the  infusion  of  aboriginal  blood. 
Among  the  "Five  Civilized  Tribes"  of  Okla 
homa  the  Indian  blood  is  distinguishable  only 
in  a  minority  of  those  who  call  themselves 
"Indians." 

This  transition  period  has  been  a  time  of 
stress  and  suffering  for  my  people.  Once  they 
had  departed  from  the  broad  democracy  and 
pure  idealism  of  their  prime,  and  undertaken 
to  enter  upon  the  world-game  of  competition, 


1 8  The  Indian  To-day 

their  rudder  was  unshipped,  their  compass  lost, 
and  the  whirlwind  and  tempest  of  materialism 
and  love  of  conquest  tossed  them  to  and  fro 
like  leaves  in  the  wind. 

"You  are  a  child,"  said  the  white  man  in 
effect  to  the  simple  and  credulous  native.  "  You 
cannot  make  or  invent  anything.  We  have 
the  only  God,  and  he  has  given  us  authority 
to  teach  and  to  govern  all  the  peoples  of  the 
earth.  In  proof  of  this  we  have  His  Book,  a 
supernatural  guide,  every  word  of  which  is 
true  and  binding.  We  are  a  superior  race — a 
chosen  people.  We  have  a  heaven  fenced  in 
with  golden  gates  from  all  pagans  and  unbe 
lievers,  and  a  hell  where  the  souls  of  such  are 
tortured  eternally.  We  are  honorable,  truthful, 
refined,  religious,  peaceful;  we  hate  cruelty  and 
injustice;  our  business  is  to  educate,  Christian 
ize,  and  protect  the  rights  and  property  of  the 
weak  and  the  uncivilized." 

This  sort  of  talk  had  its  effect.  Let  us  see 
what  followed. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  HOW  AND  THE  WHY  OF  INDIAN 
WARS 

I  HAVE  tried  to  set  forth  the  character  and 
motives  of  the  primitive  Indian  as  they  were 
affected  by  contact  with  civilization.  In  a 
word,  demoralization  was  gradual  but  certain, 
culminating  in  the  final  loss  of  his  freedom  and 
confinement  to  the  reservation  under  most 
depressing  conditions.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  there  has  been  scarcely  any  genuine 
wild  life  among  us  for  the  past  thirty-five  years. 
Sitting  Bull's  band  of  Sioux  were  the  last  real 
hostiles  of  their  tribe  to  surrender,  in  1880,  and 
Geronimo's  Apaches  followed  in  1886. 

It  is  important  to  understand  the  underlying 
causes  of  Indian  wars.  There  are  people  to-day 
who  believe  that  the  Indian  likes  nothing  better 
than  going  on  the  warpath,  killing  and  scalping 
from  sheer  native  cruelty  and  lust  for  blood. 
His  character  as  a  man  of  peace  has  not  been 

19 


2O  The  Indian  To-day 

appreciated.  Yet  it  is  matter  of  history  that  the 
newcomers  were  welcomed  in  almost  every  case 
with  unsuspecting  kindness,  and  in  his  dealings 
with  the  white  man  the  original  owner  of  the  soil 
has  been  uniformly  patient  and  reasonable,  offer- 
ingresistance  only  under  irresistible  provocation. 

There  have  been  but  few  noteworthy  Indian 
wars  in  the  history  of  America.  In  1629  Pow- 
hatan's  brother  revolted  against  the  colonists  in 
Virginia,  and  King  Philip  took  up  arms  in 
Massachusetts  in  1675.  The  Cherokee  war  of 
1758  in  North  and  South  Carolina  came  next; 
then  the  conspiracy  of  Pontiac  in  1763,  the 
Creek  war  from  1812  to  1830,  and  the  Seminole 
war  from  1820  to  1833.  These  wars  in  the 
South  were  incited  by  the  insolence  and  aggres 
siveness  of  the  Americans.  The  struggles  of 
the  Algonquins  and  the  Iroquois,  however,  were 
not  conducted  wholly  on  their  own  initiative. 
These  tribes  were  used  as  allies  in  the  long- 
drawn-out  conflicts  between  the  French  and  the 
English,  and  thus  initiated  into  the  motives  and 
the  methods  of  the  white  man's  warfare. 

I  doubt  very  much  if  Pontiac  would  have 
carried  his  policies  so  far  had  it  not  been  for 
the  encouragement  he  received  from  French 
traders  and  settlers,  who  assured  him  that  King 


Indian  Wars  21 

Louis  would  come  to  his  assistance  in  due  time, 
with  men  and  ammunition.  Strong  in  this  be 
lief,  as  well  as  in  his  innate  sense  of  right  and 
justice,  he  planned  to  unite  the  scattered  tribes 
against  the  invader  and  overthrow  all  the  border 
forts  in  a  day.  His  boldness  and  aggressiveness 
were  unique  in  the  history  of  Indian  warfare. 

At  this  juncture  a  remarkable  man  was  chosen 
to  guide  the  Indian  policy  in  America.  Sir 
William  Johnson  had  long  been  engaged  in 
trade  among  the  Six  Nations,  and  more  espe 
cially  the  Mohawks.  His  influence  among  them 
was  very  great;  and  it  was  partly  through  his 
conciliatory  methods,  and  partly  by  reason  of 
the  betrayal  of  his  plans  and  the  failure  of  the 
French  to  keep  their  promises  of  assistance,  that 
Pontiac,  perhaps  our  greatest  military  genius, 
was  forced  to  surrender. 

A  sad  feature  of  the  early  wars  was  the  suffer 
ings  of  those  Indians  who  had  listened  to  the 
preaching  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  Massachusetts, 
during  King  Philip's  war,  the  Christian  Indians 
were  treated  no  better  than  the  "heathen 
savages."  Some  were  hanged,  some  imprisoned, 
and  some  sold  as  slaves  to  the  West  Indies.  At 
best,  they  lost  their  homes  and  improvements, 
and  nearly  perished  of  cold  and  hunger.  In 


22  The  Indian  To-day 

Pennsylvania,  at  Conestoga  and  Wyoming  Val 
ley,  they  were  horribly  murdered,  and  the 
peaceful  Moravian  Indians  were  butchered  at 
prayer  in  their  church,  while  no  one  dared  say 
a  word  of  protest  except  the  Quakers. 

To  return  to  the  wars  in  the  South,  many  of 
these  were  mere  feuds  between  one  or  two 
families.  The  Cherokees  secured  concessions 
and  promises  of  better  treatment  from  the  white 
men,  after  which  they  continued  friendly,  and 
helped  in  overcoming  the  Creeks  and  Seminoles. 

Practically  all  Indian  wars  have  been  caused 
by  a  few  self-seeking  men.  For  instance,  a  man 
may  secure  through  political  influence  a  license 
to  trade  among  the  Indians.  By  his  unprinci 
pled  practices,  often  in  defiance  of  treaty  agree 
ments,  such  as  gross  overcharging  and  the  use 
of  liquor  to  debauch  the  natives,  he  accumulates 
much  tainted  wealth.  This  he  invests  in  lands 
on  the  border  or  even  within  the  Indian  territory 
if  ill-defined.  Having  established  himself,  he 
buys  much  stock,  or  perhaps  sets  up  a  mill  on 
Indian  water-power.  He  gathers  his  family  and 
hirelings  about  him,  and  presently  becomes  a 
man  of  influence  in  his  home  state.  From  the 
vantage  point  of  a  rough  border  town,  peopled 
largely  with  gamblers,  saloonkeepers,  and  horse- 


Indian  Wars  23 

thieves,  this  man  and  his  kind  plot  the  removal 
of  the  Indian  from  his  fertile  acres.  They 
harass  him  in  every  way,  and  having  at  last 
forced  resistance  upon  him,  they  loudly  cry: 
"Indian  outbreak!  Send  us  troops!  Annihi 
late  the  savages!" 

OSCEOLA   AND   THE    SEMINOLES 

The  principal  causes  of  Indian  troubles  in  the 
South  were,  first,  the  encroachments  of  this 
class  of  settlers;  second,  the  hospitable  willing 
ness  of  the  Indians  to  shelter  fugitive  slaves. 
Many  of  these  people  had  found  an  Elysium 
among  the  Creeks  and  Seminoles,  and  had  even 
intermarried  among  them,  their  offspring  be 
coming  members  of  the  tribe.  Osceola's  wife 
was  of  this  class — a  beautiful  Indian  woman 
with  some  negro  and  some  white  blood.  She  was 
dragged  away  from  him  by  unholy  traffickers 
in  human  flesh,  and  he  was  arrested  for  remon 
strating.  Who  could  tolerate  such  an  outrage? 
The  great  chief  was  then  a  young  man  and  com 
paratively  unknown;  but  within  one  year  he 
became  the  recognized  leader  of  his  tribe  and 
the  champion  of  their  cause.  The  country  was 
perfectly  suited  to  the  guerilla  warfare  which 
is  characteristic  of  Indians — a  country  in  which 


24  The  Indian  To-day 

even  an  Indian  of  another  tribe  would  be  lost! 
White  frontiersmen  were  imported  to  guide  the 
army,  but  according  to  the  testimony  of  Beck- 
worth,  the  Rocky  Mountain  hunter  and  trapper, 
all  gave  up  in  disgust.  The  Government  was 
forced  to  resort  to  pacific  measures  in  order  to 
get  the  Seminoles  in  its  power,  and  eventually 
most  of  them  were  removed  to  the  Indian  Terri 
tory.  There  was  one  small  band  which  per 
sistently  refused  the  offered  terms,  and  still 
remains  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  Florida  Ever 
glades,  perhaps  the  only  unconquered  band  in 
the  United  States  to-day. 

While  the  Southern  tribes  were  deported  al 
most  in  a  body  to  what  was  then  the  far  West, 
the  wars  of  the  Algonquins,  along  the  Great 
Lakes  and  the  Ohio  River,  scattered  them  far 
and  wide  in  fragments.  Such  of  the  Iroquois 
as  had  strong  treaties  with  the  Dutch  colony 
secured  permanent  reservations  in  the  State 
of  New  York  which  they  still  occupy,  having 
been  continuously  under  state  control  instead 
of  that  of  the  general  government. 

CHIEF  JOSEPH'S  REASONING 

The  Black  Hawk  war  in  1836  was  the  end  of 
the  Algonquin  resistance.  Surely  if  there  was 


Indian  Wars  25 

ever  just  cause  for  resistance,  Black  Hawk  had 
such  a  cause.  His  case  was  exactly  similar  to 
that  of  the  famous  Nez  Perce,  Chief  Joseph,  who 
illustrates  his  grievance  very  lucidly  in  the  North 
American  Review  for  April,  1879,  in  an  interview 
with  Bishop  Hare  of  South  Dakota. 

"If  I  ever  sold  any  land  to  the  Government," 
says  he,  "it  was  done  in  this  way:  Suppose  a 
man  comes  to  me  and  says:  *  Joseph,  I  want  to 
buy  your  horse.'  I  say  to  him:  'I  am  satisfied 
with  my  horse.  I  do  not  wish  to  sell  him  at  any 
price/  Then  the  man  goes  to  my  neighbor  and 
says  to  him:  'I  want  to  buy  Joseph's  horse, 
but  he  would  not  sell  it  to  me/  My  neighbor 
says:  'If  you  will  buy  my  horse,  I  will  throw 
in  his  horse!'  The  man  buys  my  neighbor's 
horse,  and  then  he  comes  and  claims  my  horse 
and  takes  it  away.  I  am  under  no  obligation 
to  my  neighbor.  He  had  nothing  to  do  with 
my  horse." 

It  was  just  such  dealing  as  this  which  forced 
Black  Hawk  to  fight  with  a  handful  of  warriors 
for  his  inheritance.  The  Government  simply 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Sacs  under  Keokuk, 
and  took  the  land  of  the  Foxes  at  the  same  time. 
There  were  some  chiefs  who,  after  they  had 
feasted  well  and  drunk  deep  and  signed  away 


26  The  Indian  To-day 

their  country  for  nothing,  talked  of  war,  and 
urged  Black  Hawk  to  lead  them.  Then  they 
sneaked  away  to  play  "good  Indian,"  and  left 
him  to  bear  the  brunt  alone. 

There  were  no  more  Indian  wars  for  thirty 
years.  The  Southwest  frontiers  were  now  oc 
cupied  by  eastern  tribes  or  their  remnants,  which 
had  been  transported  beyond  the  Mississippi 
during  the  early  thirties.  Only  fragments  were 
left  here  and  there,  in  New  York,  Pennsyl 
vania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  the  South.  The  great 
Siouan  race  occupied  nearly  all  the  upper  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers  and  their 
tributaries.  North  of  them  dwelt  the  Ojibways, 
an  Algonquin  tribe  with  an  entirely  different 
language.  The  Sioux  nation  proper  originally 
occupied  a  vast  territory,  and  in  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century  they  still  held  the  south 
ern  half  of  Minnesota,  a  portion  of  Wisconsin 
and  Iowa,  all  of  the  Dakotas,  part  of  Montana, 
nearly  half  of  Nebraska,  and  small  portions  of 
Colorado  and  Wyoming.  Some  of  the  bands 
were  forest  Indians,  hunters  and  trappers  and 
fishermen,  while  others  roamed  over  the  Great 
Plains  and  hunted  the  buffalo,  elk,  and  antelope. 
Some  divided  the  year  between  the  forest  and 
prairie  life.  These  people  had  been  at  peace 


Indian  Wars  27 

with  the  whites  ever  since  the  early  French  ex 
plorers  and  the  Jesuit  priests  had  entered  their 
country.  They  had  traded  for  many  years  with 
the  Hudson  Bay  and  American  Fur  companies, 
and  no  serious  difficulty  had  arisen,  nor  was  any 
obstruction  offered  to  the  progress  of  civilization. 
In  1824  the  United  States  required  of  the 
tribes  in  this  region  to  define  their  territory,  a 
demand  which  intensified  and  gave  a  new  turn 
to  their  intertribal  warfare.  The  use  of  gun, 
horse,  and  whiskey  completed  the  demoraliza 
tion,  and  thus  the  truly  "savage"  warfare  had 
its  origin,  ever  increasing  in  bitterness  until  it 
culminated  in  resistance  to  the  Government,  in 
1862,  one  hundred  years  after  the  struggle  and 
defeat  of  the  great  Pontiac. 

THE    SIOUX    AND   THEIR   GRIEVANCES 

A  treaty  was  made  in  1851  with  the  Minnesota 
Sioux  to  which  one  band  was  not  a  party.  This 
was  the  one  commonly  known  as  Inkpaduta's 
band,  whose  usual  winter  resort  was  in  north 
western  Iowa.  White  settlers  went  upon  the 
ceded  lands,  and  when  this  band  returned  to 
Spirit  Lake  after  their  summer's  roving  they 
found  it  occupied.  Owing  to  a  very  severe 
winter  and  the  presence  of  the  settlements,  the 


28  The  Indian  To-day 

surrounding  country  became  depleted  of  game, 
and  the  Sioux,  who  were  starving,  sought  aid 
among  the  settlers.  No  doubt  they  became  a 
nuisance,  and  were  so  treated,  which  treatment 
they  very  naturally  resented,  and  thus  arose 
the  "Spirit  Lake  massacre."  The  rest  of  the 
tribe  condemned  the  act,  and  Sioux  from  the 
Redwood  reservation  pursued  the  guilty  band 
until  they  overtook  and  killed  twoof  Inkpaduta's 
sons.  The  others  were  driven  back  among  the 
wild  Sioux.  This  was  their  first  offence,  after 
more  than  a  century  of  contact  with  the  whites. 
Little  Crow's  band  formed  the  east  wing  of 
the  Sioux  nation,  and  were  the  first  to  enter 
reservation  life.  The  causes  of  their  outbreak, 
a  few  years  later,  were  practically  the  same  as 
in  many  other  instances,  for  in  its  broad  features 
the  history  of  one  Indian  tribe  is  the  history  of 
all.  Their  hunting-grounds  were  taken  from 
them,  and  the  promised  support  was  not  forth 
coming.  Some  of  the  chiefs  began  to  "play 
politics"  like  white  men,  and  through  their 
signatures,  secretly  given,  a  payment  of  $98,000 
due  the  tribe  was  made  to  the  Indian  traders. 
Little  Crow  himself  was  involved  in  this  steal, 
and  was  made  head  chief  by  the  whites,  who 
wished  to  have  some  one  in  this  position  whom 


Indian  Wars  29 

they  could  deal  with.  But  soon  the  non-pay 
ment  of  annuities  brought  the  Indians  to  the 
verge  of  starvation,  and  in  despair  they  forced 
Little  Crow  to  lead  them  in  revolt.  In  August, 
1862,  they  massacred  the  agency  employees 
and  extended  their  attack  to  the  white  settlers, 
killing  many  and  destroying  a  large  amount  of 
property,  before  a  part  of  the  tribe  fled  into 
Canada  and  the  rest  surrendered  to  General 
Sibley. 

Next  came  the  struggle  of  the  Western  Sioux 
and  Northern  Cheyennes  in  defence  of  their 
homes.  The  building  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
and  the  Union  Pacific  transcontinental  railroads 
had  necessitated  the  making  of  new  treaties 
with  these  people.  Scarcely  was  the  agreement 
completed  by  which  they  ceded  a  right  of  way 
in  return  for  assurances  of  permanent  and  ab 
solute  possession  of  other  territory,  including 
the  Black  Hills  and  Bighorn  Mountains,  when 
gold  was  discovered  in  these  regions.  This  fact 
created  great  excitement  and  a  general  deter 
mination  to  dispossess  the  Sioux  of  the  country 
just  guaranteed  to  them,  which  no  white  man 
was  to  enter  without  the  consent  of  three  fourths 
of  the  adult  men  of  the  tribe. 

Public  excitement  was  intense,  and  the  Gov- 


30  The  Indian  To-day 

ernment  found  itself  unable  to  clear  the  country 
of  intruders  and  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  Sioux. 
It  was  reported  that  there  were  no  less  than 
fifteen  thousand  men  in  the  Black  Hills  district 
placer-mining  and  prospecting  for  the  yellow 
metal.  The  authority  of  the  United  States  was 
defied  almost  openly  by  the  frontier  press  and 
people.  Then  the  Indians  took  matters  into 
their  own  hands,  carried  on  a  guerilla  warfare 
against  immigrants,  and  harassed  the  forts  un 
til  the  army  was  forced  to  enter  upon  a  cam 
paign  against  them.  In  1868  another  treaty 
was  made,  but  the  great  chief,  Red  Cloud,  would 
not  sign  it  until  he  saw  forts  C.  F.  Smith  and 
Phil  Kearney  abandoned.  Here  is  probably 
the  only  instance  in  American  history  in  which 
a  single  Indian  chief  was  able  to  enforce  his 
demands  and  make  a  great  government  back 
down.  At  that  time  it  would  have  cost  im 
mense  sums  of  money  and  many  lives  to  conquer 
him,  and  would  have  retarded  the  development 
of  the  West  by  many  years. 

It  is  a  fact  that  Sitting  Bull  was  thoroughly 
opposed  to  yielding  any  more  territory.  No 
doubt  he  foresaw  the  inevitable  result.  He 
had  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  Eastern  Sioux 
in  Minnesota  and  fought  Sibley  and  Sully  in 


Indian  Wars  31 

1862.  He  had  supported  Red  Cloud  in  his 
protests  against  the  establishment  of  the  Boze- 
man  trail,  and  against  the  new  forts,  although 
thus  far  these  aggressions  had  not  affected  him 
directly.  But  when  surveyors  began  work  on 
the  Northern  Pacific,  they  entered  his  particular 
domain,  and  it  was  time  for  him  to  fight  in 
its  defence.  Unfortunately  for  him,  the  other 
bands  of  Sioux  whom  he  had  helped  in  their 
time  of  need  were  now  all  settled  upon  reserva 
tions,  so  that  he  had  not  much  support  except 
from  Crazy  Horse's  band,  and  the  so-called 
hostiles  or  renegades  of  the  Western  bands. 
Hostilities  began  in  1872,  culminating  in  1876 
with  the  famous  "Custer  fight,"  which  prac 
tically  ended  the  struggle,  for  after  annihilating 
Custer's  command  the  Indians  fled  into  British 
America.  Four  years  later  Sitting  Bull  was 
induced  to  come  in  and  settle  down  upon  the 
Sioux  reservation. 

The  Modoc  war  in  Oregon  and  Idaho,  in 
which  the  Shoshones  and  Bannocks  were  in 
volved,  was  really  a  part  of  this  same  movement 
—namely,  the  last  defence  of  their  hunting- 
grounds  by  the  Plains  Indians,  as  was  also  the 
resistance  of  the  Cheyennes  and  Comanches 
farther  south,  and  of  the  Utes  in  1877,  simul- 


32  The  Indian  To-day 

taneously  with  the  last  stand  of  the  Sioux.  It 
had  been  found  impossible  to  conquer  the  Plains 
Indians  without  destroying  the  buffalo,  their 
main  subsistence.  Therefore  vast  herds  were 
ruthlessly  destroyed  by  the  United  States  army, 
and  by  1880  they  were  practically  extinct. 
Since  it  was  found  cheaper  to  feed  than  to  fight 
them,  the  one-time  warriors  were  corralled  upon 
their  reservations  and  kept  alive  upon  Govern 
ment  rations. 

THE  "GHOST-DANCE  WAR" 

All  Indian  warfare  worthy  the  name  had  now 
come  to  an  end.  There  were  left  Geronimo's 
small  bands  of  Apaches,  who  were  hunted  down 
in  an  all  but  inaccessible  country  and  finally 
captured  and  confined  in  Southern  forts.  More 
recent  "Indian  outbreaks,"  so-called,  are  usually 
a  mere  ruse  of  the  politicians,  or  are  riots  caused 
by  the  disaffection  of  a  few  Indians  unjustly 
treated  by  their  Government  agents.  The  only 
really  serious  disturbance  within  a  generation 
was  the  "Ghost-dance  war"  of  1890-91.  And 
yet  this  cannot  fairly  be  called  an  Indian  war. 
It  arose  in  a  religious  craze  which  need  not  have 
been  a  serious  matter  if  wisely  handled.  The 
people  were  hungry  and  disheartened,  their 


Indian  Wars  33 

future  looked  hopeless,  and  all  their  appeals 
were  disregarded.  At  this  juncture  the  sugges 
tion  of  a  Messiah,  offering  hope  of  miraculous  in 
tervention  in  behalf  of  the  red  man,  appealed  to 
many,  and  the  "  newreligion  "  spread  far  and  fast. 
In  some  tribes  it  soon  died  a  natural  death,  but 
in  the  Sioux  country  it  was  unwisely  forbidden 
by  the  authorities,  and  led  to  grave  results. 

At  Pine  Ridge,  in  December  of  1890,  the 
ghost-dancers  had  come  in  to  the  agency  and 
the  situation  was  apparently  under  control 
when  the  attempted  arrest  of  Sitting  Bull  in  his 
cabin  by  Indian  police  led  to  his  death  and  the 
stampeding  of  his  people.  Several  of  the  stam 
peded  bands  came  down  to  Pine  Ridge,  where 
they  were  met  by  United  States  troops,  disarmed, 
and  shot  down  after  one  man  had  resisted  dis 
armament  by  firing  off  his  weapon.  This  was 
the  massacre  of  Wounded  Knee,  where  about 
300  Indians,  two  thirds  of  them  women  and 
children,  were  mown  down  with  machine-guns 
within  a  few  minutes.  For  some  days  there  was 
danger  of  a  reprisal,  but  the  crisis  passed,  and 
those  Indians  who  had  fled  to  the  "  Bad  Lands  " 
were  induced  to  come  in  and  surrender.  From 
that  time  on  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  United 
States  have  been  on  a  peace  footing. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  AGENCY  SYSTEM:  ITS  USES  AND 
ABUSES 

THE  early  colonists,  accustomed  to  European 
usages,  undertook  to  deal  with  a  native  chief 
as  if  he  were  a  king,  with  the  power  to  enforce 
his  rule  over  his  people.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
he  was  merely  their  spokesman,  without  au 
thority  except  as  it  was  given  him  by  the  council 
of  his  clan,  which  was  called  together  in  any 
important  event.  Each  clan  or  band  was  re 
sponsible  only  for  its  own  members,  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  conduct  of  any  other 
band.  This  difference  of  viewpoint  has  led  to 
serious  trouble. 

TREATIES    AND   TRUST   FUNDS 

Most  of  the  early  agreements  were  merely 
declarations  of  peace  and  friendship,  allowing 
freedom  of  trade,  but  having  nothing  to  do  with 
any  cession  of  land.  In  New  England  small 

34 


The  Agency  System  35 

tracts  of  land  were  purchased  by  the  settlers 
of  individual  Indians  who  happened  to  sojourn 
there  for  the  time  being,  and  purchased  for  a 
nominal  price,  according  to  their  own  history^ 
and  records.  The  natives  had  no  conception  of 
ownership  in  the  soil,  and  would  barter  away  a 
princely  estate  for  a  few  strings  of  beads  or  a^ 
gallon  of  rum,  not  realizing  that  they  conveyed ' 
thejibsolute  and  exclusive  title  that  they  them 
selves,  as  individuals,  had  not  pretended  to  pos 
sess. 

The  status  of  the  Indians  within  the  United 
States  has  been  repeatedly  changed  since  colonial 
times.     When  this  Government  was  founded, 
while  claiming  the  right  of  eminent  domain  over" 
the  whole  country,  it  never  denied  the  "right  of«/ 
occupancy"  of  the  aborigines.     In  the  articles 
of  confederation  Congress  was  given  sole  power* 
to  deal  with  them,  but  by  the  constitution  this'f 
power  was  transferred  in  part  to  the  executive 
branch.     Formal  treaties  were  made  which  had 
to  be  ratified  by  the  Senate,  until  in  1871  Con-> 
gress  declared  that  the  Indian  tribes  might  no 
longer  be  recognized  as  independent  nations,  and 
reduced  the  treaties  to  simple  "  agreements/ v 
which,  however,  must  in  ethics  be  considered  ^ 
fully  as  binding.     Their  natural  resources  had 


36  The  Indian  To-day 

n°w  m  manY  cases  been  taken  from  them^ren- 
,/dering  them  helpless  and  dependent,  and  for  this 
reason  some  of  the  later  treaties  provided  that 
they  should  be  supported  until  they  became  self- 
supporting. 

In  less  than  a  century  370  distinct  treaties 
were  made  with  the  various  tribes,  some  of 
them  merely  friendship  agreements,  but  in 
the  main  providing  for  right  of  way  and  the 
cession  of  lands,  as  fast  as  such  lands  were  de 
manded  by  the  westward  growth  of  the  coun 
try  and  the  pressure  of  population.  In  the 
first  instance,  the  consideration  was  generally 

/  not  over  five  or  ten  cents  an  acre.     While  the 
Indians  were  still  nomadic  in  their  habits,  goods 

*••  in  payment  were  usually  taken  by  steamboat 
to  the  nearest  point  and  there  turned  over  to 
the  head  chiefs,  who  distributed  them  among 
the  people.  Later  the  price  increased  and  pay 
ments  were  made  either  in  goods  or  cash;  fifty 
cents  to  a  dollar  and  a  quarter,  and  more  re 
cently  as  much  as  $2.50  per  acre  for  cessions  of 
surplus  lands  on  reservations  after  the  owners 
have  all  been  allotted.  Gradually  large  trust 
funds  have  been  created  for  some  of  the  tribes, 
the  capital  being  held  in  the  United  States 

v  Treasury  and  the  interest  paid  to  the  Indians 


The  Agency  System  37 

K  in  annual  per  capita  instalments,  or  expended 
" for  their  benefit."  Farmers,  blacksmiths,  car 
penters,  and  other  industrial  teachers;  cattle, 
farming  tools,  houses,  and  schools  are  variously 
promised  in  the  later  treaties  for  the  "support 
and  civilization"  of  a  people  whose  own  method" 
of  making  a  living  has  been  rendered  forever 
impossible.  The  theory  was  humane  and  just, 
but  the  working  of  the  system  has  proved  in  a 
large  degree  a  failure. 

WHAT   ARE    RESERVATIONS? 

A  natural  result  of  frequent  land  cessions  was 
the  reserving  or  setting  aside  of  tracts  of  land 
for  Indian  occupancy,  known  as  "  reservations/ V 
Such  lands  have  been  set  aside  not  only  by 
treaty  but  in  many  cases  by  act  of  Congress, 
and  in  others  by  executive  order.  The  Indians 
living  upon  them  may  not  sell  standing  timber, 
or  mining  rights,  or  right  of  way  to  railroads, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Government. 

The  policy  of  removal  and  concentration  of 
Indians  originated  early  in  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury,  and  was  carried  partially  into  effect. 
Indian  Territory  was  set  apart  as  a  permanent 
home  for  the  tribes,  and  the  Creeks,  Cherokees," 
Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  and  Seminoles  were  re- 


38  The  Indian  To-day 

moved  thither  from  the  Southeastern  States. 
After  a  terrible  journey,  in  which  many  died  of 
^.disease  and  exhaustion,  and  one  boatload  sank 
«,in  the  Mississippi  River,  those  who  were  left 
established  themselves  in  the  "Promised  Land," 
a  country  rich  in  natural  resources.  They  soon 
saw  the  necessity  of  a  stable  government  and 
of  domestic  and  agricultural  pursuits.  They 
copied  the  form  of  their  government  after  that 
of  the  States,  and  the  trust  funds  arising  from 
the  sale  of  their  eastern  lands  forrned  the  basis 
of  their  finances.  They  founded  churches, 
schools,  and  orphan  asylums,  and  upon  the 
whole  succeeded  remarkably  well  in  their  under 
taking,  although  their  policy  of  admitting 
intermarried  whites  and  negroes  to  citizenship 
in  the  tribe  led  to  much  political  corruption. 
Gradually  some  forty  tribes,  or  tribal  remnants, 
/  were  colonized  in  the  Territory;  but  this  scheme 
failed  in  many  instances,  as  some  tribes  (such 
as  the  Sioux)  refused  absolutely  to  go  there, 
yand  others  who  went  suffered  severely  from  the 
change  of  climate.  In  1890  the  western  part 
was  made  into  a  separate  territory  under  the 
name  of  Oklahoma  and  colonized  by  whites; 
and  in  1907  the  entire  territory  was  admitted 
to  statehood  under  that  name,  the  "Five  Civ- 


The  Agency  System  39 

ilized  Nations,"  so-called,  having  been  induced 
to  give  up  their  tribal  governments. 

The  Indians  of  the  Southwest  came  in,  in 
1848,  under  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo, 
although  with  some  of  them  other  treaties  have 
been  made  and  their  lands  added  to  by  executive 
order.  The  Navajoes,  about  twenty-two  thou 
sand  in  number,  now  own  more  than  twelve 
million  acres  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico. 
They  are  sheep-herders  and  blanket-weavers, 
and  are  entirely  self-supporting.  Owing  to  the 
character  of  the  land  they  occupy,  and  the  ab 
sence  of  sufficient  water  for  irrigation,  there  is 
not  enough  grass  on  the  reservation  to  support 
all  the  Indian  stock.  Therefore  5,000  or  more 
Navajoes  are  living  outside  the  reservation,  on 
the  public  domain;  and  of  these,  according  to 
Indian  Office  statements,  about  1,000  are  un 
allotted,  and  under  the  present  law  can  only 
be  allotted  as  are  white  homesteaders,  by  paying 
the  costs  of  survey  and  fees  to  the  land  office. 

The  Pueblos  hold  their  lands  (about  1,000,000 
acres)  under  Spanish  grants,  and  are  in  absolute 
control  of  them,  so  that  the  Government  can 
not  build  schoolhouses  among  them  unless  sites 
are  deeded  for  that  purpose,  which  they  are 
sometimes  unwilling  to  do.  These  people  are 


4-O  The  Indian  To-day 

still  self-governing,  but  their  titles  are  now  in 
danger,  owing  to  a  recent  ruling  of  the  local 
courts  that  declares  them  citizens,  and  as  such 
liable  to  taxation.  Being  for  the  most  part  very 
poor  and  fearing  to  have  their  land  sold  for 
taxes,  they  have  petitioned  the  United  States  to 
act  as  trustee  to  manage  their  estates. 

The  natives  of  California  were  a  peaceable 
people  and  made  scarcely  any  resistance  to  the 
invaders,  a  fact  which  has  resulted  in  their 
rapid  decline  and  extreme  poverty.  Under  the 
Spanish  friars  they  were  gathered  into  missions 
and  given  a  general  industrial  training,  but  after 
the  secularization  of  the  missions  the  Americans 
took  possession  of  their  cultivated  lands,  and 
many  of  the  Indians  were  landless  and  homeless. 
r  The  remnants  are  now  living  as  squatters  upon 
the  property  of  white  settlers,  or  on  small  pieces 
of  land  allotted  them  by  the  Government. 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  poverty-stricken 
condition  of  these  Pacific  Coast  Indians  is  the 
wealth  of  the  Osages,  a  small  Siouan  tribe  occu 
pying  a  fertile  country  in  Oklahoma,  who  are 
said  to  be  the  richest  people,  per  capita,  in  the 
world.  Besides  an  abundance  of  land,  rich  in 
oil  and  timber,  they  have  a  trust  fund  of  eight 
million  dollars  in  the  United  States  Treasury, 


The  Agency  System  41 

bringing  in  a  large  annual  income.  They  own 
comfortable  houses,  dwell  in  substantial  towns, 
and  are  moderately  progressive. 

THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  INDIAN  AGENCIES 

"The  Indian  of  the  Northwest  came  into  reser 
vation  life  reluctantly,  very  much  like  a  man 
^who  has  dissipated  his  large  inheritance  and  «• 
is  driven  out  by  foreclosure.      One  morning  he 
^awoke  to  the  fact  that  he  must  give  up  his  free 
dom  and  resign  his  vast  possessions  to  live  in  a 
squalid  cabin  in  the  backyard  of  civilization. 
For  the  first  time  his  rovings  were  checked  by 
/-well-defined  boundaries,  and  he  could  not  hunt 
or  visit  neighboring  tribes  without  a  passport. 
^He  was  practically  a  prisoner,  to  be  fed  and  / 
treated  as  such;  and  what  resources  were  left 
him  must  be  controlled  by  the  Indian  Bureau 
through  its  resident  agent. 

Who  is  this  Indian  agent,  or  superintendent,^ 
as  he  is  now  called?     He  is  the  supreme  ruler     * 
on  the  reservation,  responsible  directly  to  the^ 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs;  and  all  requests 
or  complaints   must   pass   through   his   officef 
The  agency  doctor,  clerks,  farmers,  superintend 
ents  of  agency  schools,  and  all  other  local  em 
ployees  report  to  him  and  are  subject  to  his 


42  The  Indian  To-day 

orders.     Too  often  he  has  been  nothing  more 

'than  a  ward  politician  of  the  commonest  stamp, 

f  whose  main  purpose  is  to  get  all  that  is  coming 

to  him.     His  salary  is  small,  but  there  are  end- 

|    ' less  opportunities  for  graft. 

If  any  appeal  from  the  agent's  decisions,  they 
,     are  "kickers"  and  "insubordinate."     If  they 
,  are  Indians,  he  can  easily  deprive  them  of  priv- 
j  ileges,  or  even  imprison  them  on  trumped-up 
1  charges;  if  employees,  he  will  force  them  to 
j  resign  or  apply  for  transfers;  and  even  the  mis- 
,  sionaries   may   be   compelled,    directly   or   in- 
\  directly,  to  leave  the  reservation  for  protesting 
.too  openly  against  official  wrongdoing.      The 
inspector   sent    from   Washington  to   investi 
gate  finds  it  easy  to  "get  in  with"  the  agent 
'and  very  difficult  to  see  or  hear  anything  that 
'the  agent  does  not  wish  him  to  hear  or  see. 
Many  Indians  now  believe  sincerely  in  Christ's 
teachings  as  explained  to  them  by  their  mission 
aries,  but  they  find  it  impossible  to  believe  that 
|  this  Government  is  Christian,  or  the  average 
1  official  an  honest  man. 

Any  untutored  people,  however,  are  apt  imi 
tators,  and  so  these  much-exploited  natives 
become  politicians  in  spite  of  themselves.  The 
most  worthless  of  the  tribe  are  used  as  the 


The  Agency  System  43 

/agent's  spies  and  henchmen;  a  state  of  affairs 
demoralizing  on  the  face  of  it.  As  long  as  the 

,'  Indian  Bureau  is  run  in  the  interests  of  the 
politicians,  and  Indian  civilization  is  merely 
an  incident,  the  excellent  and  humanitarian 
policies  approved  by  the  American  people  will 
not  be  fully  carried  into  effect. 

It  is  true  that  good  men  and  especially  good 
women  have  gone  into  the  Indian  service  with  a 

i genuine  desire  to  deal  justly  and   kindly  by 

!the  Indian  and  to  serve  the  Government  hon 
orably  and  efficiently.  Such  people  often  be 
come  disgusted  with  the  system  and  find  it 
'impossible  to  stay,  or  else  are  forced  out  by 

!  methods  familiar  to  the  experienced.  When 
you  clear  your  American  cities  of  grafters,  and 
purify  your  politics,  then  perhaps  you  will  be 
in  a  position  to  redeem  the  Indian  service,  and 
only  then.  Alas!  the  skirts  of  the  Goddess  of 
Liberty  have  never  yet  been  quite  clean! 
*-  The  Indian  is  no  fool;  on  the  other  hand,  he 

4s  a  keen  observer  and  an  apt  student.     Although 
an  idealist  by  nature,  many  of  the  race  have 
proved   themselves   good   business   men.     But    , 
under  the  reservation  system  they  have  devel- 

^oped  traits  that  are  absolutely  opposed  to  the 
racial  type.  They  become  time-serving,  beg- 


44  The  Indian  To-day 

garly,  and  apathetic.  Some  of  their  finest 
characters,  such  as  Chief  Joseph,  have  really 
died  of  a  broken  heart.  These  are  men  who 
could  not  submit  to  be  degraded;  the  politicians 
call  them  "incorrigible  savages." 

The  distribution  of  rations  to  the  Plains  In 
dians  was,  as  I  have  explained,  originally  a 
peace  measure,  and  apparently  a  necessity  in 
place  of  their  buffalo  which  the  white  man  had 
exterminated.  For  many  years  Texas  beef  was 
issued  monthly  "on  the  hoof ";  that  is,  the  cattle 
were  driven  out  one  by  one  upon  the  plain,  and 
there  surrounded  and  shot  down  by  representa 
tives  of  the  groups  to  which  they  belonged. 
Bacon,  flour,  sugar,  and  coffee  were  doled  out 
to  the  women,  usually  as  often  as  once  in  two 
weeks,  thus  requiring  those  who  lived  at  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  agency  to 
spend  several  days  of  each  month  on  the  road, 
neglecting  their  homes  and  gardens,  if  they  had 
any.  Once  a  year  there  was  a  distribution  of 
cheap  blankets  and  shoddy  clothing.  The 
self-respect  of  the  people  was  almost  fatally 
injured  by  these  methods.  This  demoralizing 
ration-giving  has  been  gradually  done  away  with 
as  the  Indians  progressed  toward  self-support, 
but  is  still  found  necessary  in  many  cases. 


The  Agency  System  45 

Not  all  features  of  reservation  life  are  bad;  for 
while  many  good  things  are  shut  out  and  some 
evils  flourish,  others  are  excluded.  Liquor  traf 
fic  among  Indians  has  been  forbidden  by  law 
since  the  colonial  period;  and  the  law  is  fairly 
well  enforced  by  a  number  of  special  officers  ;*- 
yet  in  a  few  tribes  there  has  been  in  recent  years 
/much  demoralization  through  liquor.  It  is  gen 
erally  admitted  that  there  is  less  crime  and 
rowdyism  on  the  reservations  than  in  civilized 
communities  of  equal  size.  In  1878  a  force  of 
native  police  was  authorized  to  keep  order, 
eject  intruders,  act  as  truant  officers,  and  per 
form  other  duties  under  the  direction  of  the 
agent.  Though  paid  only  ten  or  twelve  dollars 
a  month,  these  men  have  been  faithful  and  effi 
cient  in  the  performance  of  duties  involving 
considerable  hardship  and  sometimes  danger. 
Their  loyalty  and  patriotism  are  deserving  of 
special  praise.  In  making  arrests  and  bringing 
in  desperate  prisoners,  as  in  the  case  of  Pretty 
Elk  the  Brule  Sioux  murderer,  and  of  the  chief, 
Sitting  Bull,  the  faithful  police  have  sometimes 
lost  their  lives. 

INDIAN    CLAIMS 

It  is  commonly  admitted  that  the   Indian 
treaties  have  been  frequently  broken  by  the  ^ 


46  The  Indian  To-day 

United  States,  both  in  the  letter  and  the  spirit, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Indians  have  acted 
in  good  faith  and  with  a  high  regard  for  their 
national  honor.  It  is  also  a  fact  not  very  cred 
itable  to  the  Government  that  treaties  have 
^  been  materially  amended  in  the  Senate  and  not 
again  submitted  to  the  tribe,  who  were  not 
^even  made  aware  at  once  of  their  altered  pro 
visions.  I  believe  this  would  be  considered  a 
piece  of  sharp  practice  in  the  case  of  any  people 
able  to  defend  itself. 

The  breach  of  treaty  obligations  on  the  part 

^of  this  Government  has  led  to  a  large  number 

of  Indian  claims,  involving  millions  of  dollars, 

which  represent  the  efforts  of  tribes  or  bands 

twhich  feel  themselves  wronged  or  defrauded  to 

obtain  justice  under  the  white  man's  law.     The 

history  of  one  or  two  such  may  be  of  interest. 

Most  of  the  Oneida  and  Stockbridge  tribes 
exchanged  their  New  York  reservations  for  a 
large  tract  of  land  in  Kansas,  and  started  for 
their  new  home  in  1830,  but  never  got  any 
farther  than  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin.  There  the 
Menominees  invited  them  to  remain  and  share 
their  reservation,  as  they  had  plenty  of  good 
land.  The  Stockbridges  had  originally  occupied 
the  beautiful  Housatonic  valley,  where  Jonathan 


The  Agency  System  47 

Edwards  preached  to  them  and  made  them  good 
Presbyterians;  nevertheless,  the  "Christian" 
colonists  robbed  them  of  their  homes  and  drove 
them  westward.  They  did  not  resist  the  aggres 
sion.  If  anything  is  proved  in  history,  it  is 
that  those  who  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
meek  and  gentle  Jesus  will  be  treated  unmerci 
fully,  as  he  was,  by  a  hard  and  material  world. 

These  Stockbridges  went  still  further  with 
their  kind  hosts,  and  ultimately  both  tribes 
accepted  the  hospitality  of  the  Ojibways.  They 
made  their  unfortunate  brothers  welcome,  and 
made  them  a  free  gift  of  land.  But  now  ob 
serve  the  white  man's  sense  of  honor  and  justice 
in  glaring  contrast!  For  seventy-five  years  the 
United  States  Government  failed  to  recompense 
these  people  for  their  Kansas  land,  which  they 
never  reached,  and  which  in  the  meantime  was  * 
taken  up  by  settlers,  and  gradually  covered 
with  thriving  homes  and  fertile  farms. 

The  whole  case  was  scrutinized  again  and 
again  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  from 
1830  to  about  1905,  when  at  last  a  payment^ 
was  made!  The  fact  that  the  two  tribes  re 
mained  in  Wisconsin  and  settled  there  does  not 
invalidate  their  claim,  as  those  wild  Ojibways 
had  no  treaty  with  the  Government  at  that 


48  *  The  Indian  To-day 

time  and  had  a  perfect  right  to  give-away  some 
of  their  land.  It  was  a  barefaced,  open  steal 
from  the  Indians.  Yet  the  tribes  were  obliged^ 
to  employ  white  attorneys  at  a  liberal  per  cent, 
of  the  amount  they  hoped  to  recover.  They 
had  to  pay  high  for  simple  justice.  Meanwhile 
they  lived  on  their  own  labor  for  two  or  three 
generations,  and  contributed  to  the  upbuilding 
of  Wisconsin.  To-day  some  of  them  are  doing 
better  than  their  white  neighbors. 

This  is  only  one  illustration  of  a  not  uncom 
mon  happening;  for,  while  some  of  these  claims 
are  doubtless  unreasonable,  I  personally  know 
of  many  in  which  the  ethics  of  the  case  are  as 
clear  as  in  this  which  I  have  cited.  It  is  often 
the  fact  that  differences  among  attorneys  and 
party  politics  in  Congress  delay  justice  for 
many  years  or  deprive  the  Indians  of  their 
rights  altogether.  A  bill  has  recently  been  in 
troduced,  at  the  instance  of  the  Society  of 
American  Indians,  which  is  framed  to  permit 
Indian  tribes  to  sue  in  the  Court  of  Claims, 
without  first  obtaining  the  consent  of  Congress 
in  each  case.  This  bill  ought  to  be  at  once  made 
./law,  as  it  would  do  away  within  a  few  years 
with  many  long-drawn-out  disputes  and  much 
waste  and  worse  than  waste  of  time  and  money. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  NEW  INDIAN   POLICY 

I  HAVE  tried  to  state  plainly  some  of  the  diffi 
culties  found  so  harassing  in  adjusting  the  re 
lations  of  the  native  and  white  races  in  America. 
While  there  have  been  terrible  and  most  un- 
Christian  mistakes  in  dealing  with  the  Indian 
(who  has  always  been  fully  able  to  appreciate 
fair  play  and  to  resent  the  lack  of  it),  it  is  equally 
true  that  there  has  been  of  late  years  a  serious 
effort  to  bring  him  within  the  bounds  of  modern 
progress,  so  that  he  may  eventually  adapt  him 
self  to  the  general  life  of  the  nation.  Until  re 
cently  he  himself  preferred  to  remain  just  outside 
the  borders  of  civilization,  and  was  commonly 
assumed  to  be  incapable  of  advance  or  change. 

The  birth  of  the  new  era  really  dates  from 
Abraham  Lincoln's  refusal  to  order  the  execu 
tion  of  three  hundred  Sioux  braves,  whom  a 
military  court  had,  in  less  than  two  days,  con 
victed  of  murder  and  condemned  to  be  hung, 

49 


50  The  Indian  To-day 

in  order  to  satisfy  the  clamor  of  the  citizens  of 
Minnesota.  They  demanded  to  be  avenged 
for  the  loss  of  friends,  relatives,  and  property 
in  the  outbreak  of  1862,  and  they  forgot  that 
these  Sioux  had  been  defrauded  of  the  finest 
country  in  the  world,  their  home,  their  living, 
and  even  cheated  out  of  the  ten  cents  per  acre 
agreed  to  be  paid  for  millions  of  acres  of  the 
choicest  land.  They  had  shown  their  teeth  at 
last,  after  more  than  a  century  of  patience  and 
self-control. 

The  great  President  personally  reviewed  the 
records  of  the  court,  and  wrote  with  his  own 
hand  the  names  of  the  forty  Indians  who  were 
executed,  instead  of  three  hundred  originally 
condemned  to  die.  He  was  abused  and  insulted 
for  his  humanity.  Governor  Ramsey  of  Minne 
sota  appealed  to  him  in  vain  in  the  name  of  the 
frontier  people:  that  gentle,  brave,  just  Presi 
dent  had  his  way,  and  many  of  those  whom 
he  pardoned  afterward  became  leaders  of  the 
Sioux  in  walking  the  white  man's  road. 

INDIAN    REFORMS    UNDER    GRANT 

During  General  Grant's  administration  the 
famous  "Peace  Policy"  made  a  remarkable 
start  in  the  face  of  the  determined  resistance 


The  New  Indian  Policy  51 

of  the  Plains  Indians.  The  Indian,  when  mak 
ing  his  last  stand  against  injustice,  is  a  desperate 
and  a  dangerous  enemy.  It  was  estimated  at 
this  time  that  every  warrior  killed  in  battle 
had  cost  the  Government  twenty-three  lives 
and  a  round  million  of  dollars.  At  this  rate, 
the  race  would  not  be  "wiped  out"  for  genera 
tions.  Kindness  would  be  infinitely  cheaper,  as 
well  as  more  pleasing,  doubtless,  to  the  white 
man's  God! 

In  a  word,  Christian  men  and  women  came 
tardily  to  the  conclusion  that  something  more 
consistent  with  the  claims  of  their  religion  must 
be  shown  these  brave  people  who  had  lost  every 
thing  in  the  face  of  the  herculean  advance  of 
the  dominant  race.  Reflection  upon  the  sordid 
history  of  their  country's  dealings  with  the  red 
man  had  taught  them  to  think  clearly,  above 
the  clamor  of  the  self-seeking  mob.  Some  of 
them  had  lived  side  by  side  with  their  dusky 
neighbors,  and  studied  them  at  close  range,  in 
the  light  of  broad  human  feeling.  Such  men 
were  General  Grant,  Bishops  Whipple  and  Hare, 
William  Welsh  and  his  nephew,  Herbert  Welsh 
of  Philadelphia,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs 
Smith,  General  Armstrong,  and  General  Pratt. 
No  class  or  sect  has  more  fully  endorsed  this 


52  The  Indian  To-day 

policy  than  have  the  Quakers,  of  whom  the 
late  Albert  K.  Smiley  of  Mohonk  Conference 
fame  was  a  distinguished  representative. 

In  1 870  President  Grant  placed  all  Indian  agen 
cies  under  the  control  of  the  various  churches 
and  missionary  organizations,  which  had  hither 
to  been  practically  the  sole  channels  of  educa 
tional  or  uplift  work  among  the  tribes.  Un 
doubtedly  Grant  sincerely  wished  to  put  an 
end  to  official  corruption  in  this  branch  of  the 
service,  and  to  make  the  best  possible  use  of  all 
moneys  that  might  be  appropriated  for  Indian 
civilization,  when  he  took  the  radical  step  of 
inviting  each  of  the  denominations  interested  to 
name  the  agent  at  one  or  more  agencies,  their 
candidate  to  hold  office  as  long  as  he  enjoyed 
their  confidence,  and  to  choose  his  own  sub 
ordinates.  It  was  confidently  hoped  that  by 
this  means  the  civil  and  religious  work  might 
be  in  full  harmony,  and  that  the  Indians,  in 
stead  of  being  hopelessly  confused  by  conflict 
ing  views  and  practices  among  their  would-be 
teachers,  might  learn  equally  by  precept  and 
example. 

Grant's  policy  remained  in  force  for  about  ten 
years,  and  there  is  no  question  that  in  this  short 
space  of  time  the  churches  accomplished  won- 


The  New  Indian  Policy  53 

ders  among  the  raw  Sioux  but  lately  confined 
to  their  reservations.  The  following  agencies 
of  which  I  had  personal  knowledge  were  then 
industrious  Christian  communities:  namely,  Sis- 
seton  under  the  Presbyterians,  Devil's  Lake 
under  the  Catholics,  Yankton  under  the  Epis 
copalians,  Santee  under  the  Quakers.  Winne- 
bagoes,  Pawnees,  Omahas,  all  the  wild  Plains 
Indians  did  well  under  consistent  and  conscien 
tious  management.  Large  fields  of  wheat  were 
cultivated  by  them,  with  but  little  assistance, 
which  have  since  gone  back  to  wild  land  under 
the  "spoils  system/'  and  over  which,  ten  years 
ago,  I  hunted  prairie  chickens. 

There  were  developed  during  this  period  many 
strong  Christians  of  a  genuinely  apostolic  stamp, 
who  became  teachers  and  preachers  to  their 
wilder  brethren.  Both  children  and  adults 
were  taught  to  read  in  their  own  language,  and 
at  least  two  papers  were  published  monthly  in 
the  Sioux  tongue,  which  had  been  reduced  to 
writing  by  the  Riggses  and  Williamsons,  the 
earliest  Protestant  missionaries.  It  was  then 
and  there  that  I  myself  received  my  impetus 
toward  an  education.  My  father,  who  was  one 
of  the  two  hundred  and  sixty  Sioux  pardoned 
by  Lincoln,  had  voluntarily  abandoned  the 


54  The  Indian  To-day 

reservation  with  its  pauperizing  influences,  and 
was  a  self-supporting  citizen  in  1870. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  Grant's  ad 
ministration  was  the  number  of  Indians  holding 
responsible  positions  in  the  service.  At  a  time 
when  there  were  no  great  Indian  schools,  there 
were  found  and  trained  men  competent  to  act 
as  agency  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  millers,  etc. 
There  was  even  a  full-blood  Iroquois  at  the 
head  of  the  Indian  Bureau — Grant's  chief  of 
staff,  General  Ely  Parker. 

THE    WARS    OF   THE    SECTS 

It  was  a  genuine  calamity  for  our  people  when 
this  system  was  overthrown,  as  it  was  in  a  few 
years,  by  the  clamor  of  the  politicians  for  pat 
ronage,  together  with  the  sectarian  disputes 
that  have  been  a  scandal  to  the  heathen  through 
out  the  history  of  Christian  missions.  On  many 
reservations  proselyting  work  had  been  begun 
by  two  or  more  denominations,  and  these  bodies 
now  became  rivals,  even  bitter  and  hostile  rivals, 
for  the  souls  and  bodies  of  their  reputed  con 
verts.  To  the  Catholics,  in  particular,  who 
claimed  thirty-eight  of  the  seventy-two  agencies, 
on  the  ground  of  prior  religious  influence,  there 
had  been  assigned  but  eight.  Strong  pressure 


The  New  Indian  Policy  55 

was  brought  to  bear  through  their  Bureau  of 
Missions  to  reverse  this  ruling;  and  equally 
strong,  or  stronger,  was  the  political  pressure 
for  the  rich  spoils  of  the  Indian  agencies.  By 
1883  Grant's  too  idealistic  system  broke  down 
entirely,  the  fat  offices  were  returned  to  the 
politicians,  and  all  denominations  were  per 
mitted  to  engage  at  will  in  missionary  propa 
ganda,  but  without  secular  authority. 

A  certain  chief  in  the  Red  River  region  well 
expressed  a  view  common  among  our  people 
when  he  said  to  the  priest:  "You  tell  us  that 
we  can  be  saved  only  if  we  accept  your  faith 
and  are  baptized  by  you.  The  Protestant 
minister  tells  us  the  same.  Yet  both  claim  to 
worship  the  same  God!  Who  shall  judge  be 
tween  you?  We  have  considered  the  matter, 
and  decided  that  when  your  two  roads  join  we 
will  follow  you;  but  until  then  we  prefer  our  own 
religion!" 

Nevertheless  it  was  largely  through  the  in 
fluence  of  the  missionaries  and  their  converts 
that  in  most  of  the  treaties  made  during  this 
period  there  were  inserted  clauses  providing  for 
the  practical  education  of  the  Indian  children. 
There  has  been  much  fraud  connected  with  the 
purchase  of  materials  and  supplies,  and  in  every 


L 


56  The  Indian  To-day 

way  that  shrewd  and  unprincipled  men  can 
devise,  but  even  the  politicians  could  not  en 
tirely  prevent  the  building  of  those  schools. 
One  fact  stands  out  boldly:  it  was  the  Christian 
missionary,  in  spite  of  serious  mistakes,  who 
played  the  most  important  part  in  the  trans 
formation  of  the  Indian  and  the  development 
of  the  West. 


MODERN  "FRIENDS  or  THE  INDIAN" 


From  this  time  on  the  old  view  of  the  Indian 
as  a  hopeless  savage  has  been  gradually  aban 
doned,  and  replaced  by  the  juster  modern  view 
which  regards  him  as  essentially  a  man,  and  as 
good  material  for  the  future  citizen.  The  vol 
unteer  organizations  arising  under  Grant  and 
continuing  active  to  the  present  day  have  been 
effective  molders  of  public  opinion  along  these 
lines. 

The  Boston  Indian  Citizenship  Committee 
was  organized  in  1879,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
forcible  removal  of  the  Poncas  to  Indian  Terri 
tory.  Chief  Standing  Bear  and  the  Indian 
maiden  Bright  Eyes  (Susette  La  Flesche) 
visited  many  leading  cities  and  told  eloquently 
the  story  of  their  wrongs.  They  were  ultimately 
restored  to  their  old  home,  largely  through  the 


The  New  Indian  Policy  57 

efforts  of  this  group  of  influential  men.  The 
committee  then  undertook  to  secure  citizenship 
for  Indians  on  the  basis  of  taxation,  a  principle 
that  was  denied  by  the  Supreme  Court;  but  a 
few  years  later  the  same  end  was  attained  by 
the  passage  of  the"  Dawes  bill/*  Since  then  they 
have  endeavored  to  secure  honest  allotments  to 
Indians,  to  prevent  the  sale  of  the  best  lands  to 
whites  at  nominal  prices,  and  to  obtain  the  dis 
missal  of  corrupt  Indian  agents  and  inspectors. 

The  National  Indian  Association,  composed 
chiefly  of  women,  began  work  with  a  memorial 
to  Congress  in  1879,  and  has  continued  it  until 
now,  under  the  efficient  leadership  of  Mrs.  A. 
S.  Quinton,  Mrs.  Sara  T.  Kinney,  and  others. 
The  missionary  department  has  established  fifty 
pioneer  missions  in  as  many  neglected  tribes  or 
tribal  remnants,  turning  them  over  ultimately, 
with  their  buildings  and  plant,  to  the  mission 
boards  of  the  various  Protestant  denominations. 
The  society  has  also  fostered  native  industries, 
beingthe  mother  of  the  Indian  Industries  League; 
has  loaned  money  to  Indians  for  home-building; 
assisted  in  the  education  of  especially  promising 
individuals;  built  and  supported  hospitals,  and 
done  other  valuable  work.  Its  headquarters 
are  in  New  York  City. 


58  The  Indian  To-day 

The  Indian  Rights  Association  was  organized 
in  Philadelphia,  in  1882,  at  the  home  of  Mr. 
John  Welsh.  Mr.  Herbert  Welsh  has  been  for 
many  years  its  leading  spirit,  and  others  who 
have  done  yeoman's  service  in  the  cause  are  the 
late  Professor  Painter,  Mr.  Brosius,  and  Mr. 
Matthew  K.  Sniffen.  Its  slogan  was  the  same 
as  that  of  the  others:  Education;  Land  in 
Severalty;  Citizenship!  To  all  three  of  these 
bodies,  as  well  as  to  the  Board  of  Indian  Com 
missioners,  belongs  much  credit  for  urging  the 
reforms  which  triumphed,  in  1887,  in  the 
"Dawes  bill,"  the  Emancipation  Act  of  the 
Indian. 

The  Indian  Rights  Association  maintains  a 
representative  in  Washington  to  cooperate  with 
the  Indian  Bureau  and  to  keep  an  eye  upon 
legislation  affecting  the  tribes,  as  well  as  a  per 
manent  office  in  Philadelphia.  Its  officers  and 
agents  have  kept  in  close  touch  with  develop 
ments  in  the  field,  and  have  conducted  many  in 
vestigations  on  Indian  agencies,  resulting  often 
in  the  exposure  of  grave  abuses.  They  have 
been  courageous  and  aggressive  in  their  work, 
and  have  not  hesitated  to  appeal  to  the  courts 
when  necessary  to  protect  the  rights  of  Indians. 
They  have  also  done  much  to  mold  public  senti- 


The  New  Indian  Policy  59 

ment  through  meetings,  letters  to  the  press,  and 
the  circulation  of  their  own  literature  to  the 
number  of  more  than  half  a  million  copies. 

One  of  President  Grant's  first  acts  was  the 
creation,  in  1869,  of  the  United  States  Board  of 
Indian  Commissioners,  a  body  of  ten  men  sup 
posed  to  be  "eminent  for  their  intelligence 
and  philanthropy,"  to  serve  without  pay  in  an 
advisory  capacity,  and  to  cooperate  with  the  In 
terior  Department  in  securing  a  sound  and  pro 
gressive  administration  of  Indian  affairs.  The 
only  appropriation  is  for  travelling  expenses 
and  for  a  salaried  secretary  with  an  office  in 
Washington.  It  has  been  one  of  the  important 
duties  of  this  Board  to  inspect  the  Indian  sup 
plies  when  purchased,  if  possible  securing  goods 
up  to  the  standard  of  the  samples  submitted 
and  preventing  open  fraud.  Its  members  have 
travelled  extensively  in  the  Indian  country  in 
order  to  observe  conditions,  and  their  patriotic 
services  have  been  appreciated  by  both  races. 

In  the  autumn  of  1883  Mr.  Albert  K.  Smiley, 
the  large-hearted  owner  of  a  hostelry  overlook 
ing  beautiful  Lake  Mohonk,  in  the  Shawangum 
range,  invited  a  number  of  prominent  Indian 
workers  to  meet  as  his  guests  for  discussion  of 
actual  conditions  and  necessary  reforms.  With 


60  The  Indian  To-day 

this  historic  meeting  began  an  uninterrupted 
series  of  "Mohonk  Indian  Conferences,"  at 
which  missionaries  of  all  denominations,  Gov 
ernment  officials,  members  of  Congress,  repre 
sentatives  of  philanthropic  societies,  teachers  in 
Indian  schools,  editors,  ministers,  and  other 
influential  men  and  women,  with  a  sprinkling 
of  educated  Indians,  meet  annually  at  the  call 
of  Mr.  Smiley,  and  since  his  death  in  1912  at 
that  of  his  brother,  Mr.  Daniel  Smiley,  to  dis 
cuss  all  matters  bearing  upon  the  welfare  of  the 
race  in  a  sympathetic  atmosphere  and  amid 
the  pleasantest  surroundings.  Mr.  Smiley  was 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Indian  Commission 
ers,  and  for  many  years  these  conferences  were 
closely  connected  with  the  affairs  of  the  Board, 
and  the  proceedings  were  published  as  a  part 
of  its  annual  report. 

The  platform  adopted  each  year  at  Lake 
Mohonk  is  widely  circulated,  and  has  had  much 
influence;  although,  as  it  represents  only  the 
unanimous  vote  of  a  body  among  whom  there 
actually  exist  wide  differences  of  opinion,  it  is 
not  always  as  satisfactory  as  it  might  be.  It 
has  seemed  to  some  who  attended  the  early 
conferences  that  those  of  late  years  have  been 
less  fruitful,  owing  partly  to  less  novelty  in  the 


The  New  Indian  Policy  61 

subject-matter  and  to  the  sharing  of  the  time 
with  problems  of  Hawaii  and  the  Philippines, 
and  partly  to  a  desire  for  unanimity  and  good 
feeling  that  has  kept  unpleasant  facts  from  the 
light.  It  is  certain  that  the  debates  are  more 
carefully  pre-arranged  and  therefore  less  spon 
taneous. 

The  Mohonk  Conferences  have  consistently^  : 
recommended  larger  appropriations  for  Indian 
education;  the  extension  of  the  laws  of  the  land) 
over  Indian  reservations;  thegradual  withdrawal^ 
of  rations;  the  allotment  of  communal  land  toi 
individuals,  and  more  recently  the  breaking  up  | 
of  the  tribal  trust  funds  into  individual  holdings^ 
Emphasis  has  been  laid  upon  the  need  of  greater 
care  in  selecting  men  of  character  as  Indian 
agents   and   superintendents.     The  thirty-first 
conference  urges  a  vigorous  campaign  against 
tuberculosis,    trachoma,     and    other    diseases 
among  Indians,  also  against  the  liquor  traffic, 
and  mescal  habit,  and  declares  that  the  propo 
sition  to  control  Indian  affairs  through  a  non- 
partisan  commission  to  serve  during  long  terms 
is  "worthy  of  serious  consideration."     It  also 
makes  special  recommendations  in  behalf  of  the 
Pueblo,  the  Navajo,  the  Five  Civilized  Tribes  of 
Oklahoma,  and  the  New  York  Indians,  looking 


62  The  Indian  To-day 

toward  their  present  protection  and  future  citi 
zenship. 

These  "  Eastern  sentimentalists,"  as  they  have 
often  been  called  by  persons  interested  in  depriv 
ing  the  red  man  of  his  heritage,  have  pursued 
their  ends  steadily,  though  not  without  severe 
setbacks.  The  opposition  to  Indian  schools  in 
Congress  was  for  many  years  very  strong,  but 
it  has  now  almost  ceased,  except  in  sporadic 
instances.  One  seldom  hears  it  said  nowadays 
?  that  "the  only  good  Indian  is  the  dead  Indian," 
and  the  Western  Senator  who  declared  that 
^  "you  could  no  more  civilize  an  Apache  than  you 
could  civilize  a  rattlesnake"  would  rather  shock 
than  convince  his  hearers  in  the  light  of  present- 
day  progress.  The  greatest  enemy  to  Indian 
civilization  has  been  the  return  of  the  "spoils 
system"  in  the  eighties,  and  the  formation  of  a 
corrupt  "Indian  ring"  whose  ramifications  ex 
tended  so  deep  and  so  high  that  even  the  most 
sincere  and  disinterested  despaired  of  obtaining 
justice.  Yet  the  average  American  citizen  hon 
estly  wants  to  give  the  Indian  a  fair  chance! 

To  sum  up,  he  had  been  an  indomitable  foe, 
and  occupied  a  vast  region  which  by  1870  was 
already  beat  upon  by  the  tides  of  settlement. 
Two  things  were  determined  upon:  First,  he 


The  New  Indian  Policy  63 

must  be  induced,  bribed,  or  forced  to  enter  the  * 
reservation.     Second,  he  must  be  trained  and 
persuaded  to  adopt  civilized  life,  and  so  saved 
to  the  future  if  he  proved  to  be  worth  saving, 
which  many  doubted.     In  order  to  carry  out 
these  projects  his  wild  food  supply  had  to  be 
ruthlessly  cut  off,  and  the  buffalo  were  of  ne-^ 
cessity  sacrificed. 

Here  is  a  system  which  has  gradually  taken  its 
present  complicated  form  during  two  thousand 
years.  A  primitive  race  has  put  it  on  ready 
made,  to  a  large  extent,  within  two  generations. 
In  order  to  accomplish  such  a  feat,  they  had  to 
fight  physical  demoralization,  psychological  con 
fusion,  and  spiritual  apathy.  In  other  words, 
the  old  building  had  to  be  pulled  down,  founda 
tions  and  all,  and  replaced  by  the  new.  But 
you  have  had  to  use  the  same  timber! 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  INDIAN  IN  SCHOOL 

THE  thought  of  educating  the  natives  of  America 
was  first  conceived  by  the  earliest  explorer- 
priests,  prompted  by  ecclesiastical  ambition  and 
religious  zeal.  Churches  and  missionary  soci 
eties  among  the  early  colonists  undertook  both 
to  preach  and  teach  among  the  children  of  the 
forest,  who,  said  they, "  must  either  be  moralized 
or  exterminated."  Schools  and  missions  were 
established  and  maintained  among  them  by 
the  mother  churches  in  England  and  Scotland, 
and  in  a  few  cases  by  the  colonists  themselves. 
It  was  provided  in  the  charters  of  our  oldest 
colleges  that  a  certain  number  of  Indian  pupils 
should  be  educated  therein,  and  others,  as  Dart 
mouth  and  Hamilton,  were  founded  primarily 
for  Indian  youth.  The  results,  though  meagre, 
were  on  the  whole  deserving  of  consideration. 
In  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  there 
were  said  to  be  some  Indian  boys  in  Stockbridge, 

64 


The  Indian  in  School  65 

Mass.,  who  "read  English  well,"  and  at  Harvard 
several  excelled  in  the  classics.  Joseph  Brant, 
though  a  terror  to  the  colonists  during  the  Revo 
lution,  was  a  man  of  rare  abilities  and  con 
siderable  education;  and  Samson  Occum,  the 
most  famous  educated  Indian  of  his  day,  was 
not  only  an  eloquent  preacher  and  successful 
teacher  but  an  accomplished  hymn-writer. 
The  visit  of  "the  great  Mohegan"  to  England 
in  1765,  when  he  preached  more  than  three 
hundred  times  and  raised  some  ten  thousand 
pounds  for  Dartmouth  College,  was  perhaps  the 
most  striking  incident  of  his  career. 

From  this  early  chapter  of  Indian  education 
we  find  it  clearly  proven  that  individual  red 
men  were  able  to  assimilate  the  classical  culture 
of  the  period,  and  capable,  moreover,  of  loyalty 
toward  the  new  ideals  no  less  than  the  old.  The 
utter  disregard  of  hygiene  then  prevalent,  and 
the  further  facts  that  industrial  training  was 
neglected  and  little  or  no  attention  paid  to  the 
girls,  would  account  to  the  modern  mind  for 
many  disappointments.  However,  most  of  the 
so-called  "failure"  of  this  work  is  directly  trace 
able  to  unjust  laws,  social  segregation,  frequent 
wars,  strong  drink,  and  the  greed  of  the  whites 
for  Indian  lands,  one  or  all  of  which  causes 


66  The  Indian  To-day 

destroyed  many  promising  beginnings  and  ex 
terminated  whole  tribes  or  drove  them  from  well- 
established  homes  into  poverty  and  exile. 

EARLY   MISSION    AND    CONTRACT    SCHOOLS 

Beginning  with  the  first  years  of  the  nine 
teenth  century,  practically  every  religious  de 
nomination  in  America  carried  on  more  or  less 
educational  work  among  the  natives.  In  some 
cases  the  Indians  themselves  contributed  toward 
the  expense  of  these  schools,  and  in  others  the 
United  States  Government  gave  meagre  aid. 
As  early  as  1775  the  Continental  Congress  had 
appropriated  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  sup 
port  and  education  of  youths  at  Dartmouth 
College.  This  was,  however,  less  an  act  of 
benevolence  than  of  self-interest,  since  its 
avowed  object  was  to  conciliate  the  friendship 
of  those  Indians  who  might  be  inclined  to  ally 
themselves  with  the  British  during  the  struggle 
for  independence. 

From  the  year  1819  to  1848  ten  thousand 
dollars  annually  was  distributed  by  the  Govern 
ment  among  mission  schools  of  various  denomi 
nations,  and  in  the  latter  year  there  were  one 
hundred  and  three  such  schools,  with  over  three 
thousand  pupils.  In  1870  the  appropriation 


The  Indian  in  School  67 

was  increased  to  one  hundred  thousand;  and 
about  1873,  during  Grant's  administration, 
already  described  as  marking  a  new  era  for  the 
red  man,  the  Government  began  to  develop  a 
school  system  of  its  own,  but  did  not  therefore 
discontinue  its  aid  to  the  mission  boards.  On 
the  contrary,  such  aid  was  largely  increased 
in  the  form  of  "contracts." 

The  usual  rule  was  to  pay  a  fixed  sum  (com 
monly  $167  per  capita  per  annum)  for  each 
pupil  actually  in  attendance,  the  religious 
society  or  individual  to  whom  the  contract  was 
given  providing  buildings,  teachers,  and  equip 
ment.  It  does  not  appear  that  there  was  any 
unjust  discrimination  between  religious  bodies 
in  the  application  of  these  funds,  and  the  fact 
that  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  a  large  and 
increasing  proportion  passed  under  the  control 
of  the  Bureau  of  Catholic  Indian  Missions  must 
be  attributed  entirely  to  their  superior  enter 
prise  and  activity.  This  was  a  period  of 
awakening  and  rapid  growth.  By  1886  the 
total  appropriations  for  Indian  education  had 
risen  to  more  than  $1,000,000,  and  the  contracts 
aggregated  $31,000.  In  ten  years  more  the 
Catholics  alone  drew  $314,000.  But,  during 
this  decade,  the  policy  of  assisting  sectarian 


68  The  -Indian  To-day 

schools  with  the  public  money,  claimed  to  be 
a  violation  of  the  American  principle  of  separa 
tion  of  Church  and  State,  had  been  continuously 
under  fire;  and  in  1895  lt  was  finally  decided 
by  Congress  to  reduce  the  contracts  20  per 
cent,  each  year  until  abolished. 

Meantime,  the  Methodists  first  in  1892,  fol 
lowed  by  all  the  other  Protestant  bodies,  volun 
tarily  relinquished  their  contracts,  but  the 
Catholics  kept  up  the  fight  to  the  end;  never 
theless,  in  1900,  all  Congressional  appropriations 
for  sectarian  schools  were  finally  withdrawn. 

Naturally  this  reversal  of  a  policy  of  such 
long  standing,  even  though  due  notice  had  been 
given,  worked  serious  hardship  to  schools  es 
tablished  in  the  expectation  of  its  continuance. 
Bishop  Hare's  valuable  work  in  South  Dakota 
was  crippled,  particularly  as  the  principle  at 
issue  was  so  interpreted  by  the  Indian  office  as 
to  forbid  the  issue  of  treaty  rations  to  children 
enrolled  in  mission  schools,  although  they  would 
have  received  such  rations  had  they  not  been 
in  school  at  all. 

It  was  held  by  the  Bureau  of  Catholic  Indian 
missions  that  Indian  treaty  and  trust  funds  are 
in  a  different  class  from  moneys  derived  from 
the  taxpayers,  and  that  it  is  perfectly  legiti- 


The  Indian  in  School  69 

mate  for  a  tribe  to  assign  a  portion  of  its  own 
revenues  to  the  support  of  a  mission  school. 
The  Supreme  Court  has  since  declared  this 
view  to  be  correct,  and  accordingly  this  church 
still  utilizes  tribal  funds  to  a  considerable 
amount  each  year.  Rations  were  also  re 
stored  to  certain  schools  by  act  of  Congress 
in  1906. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  sectarian  protests  against 
President  Grant's  policy  in  regard  to  manning 
the  Indian  agencies,  I  believe  that  religious 
prejudice  has  been  a  real  misfortune  to  our 
people.  General  Armstrong,  in  an  address  given 
at  Lake  Mohonk  in  1890,  expressed  the  well- 
founded  opinion  that  the  industrial  work  of 
the  Catholic  schools  is  as  good  as  any,  often 
superior;  the  academic  work  generally  inferior, 
while  on  the  moral  and  religious  side  he  found 
them  at  their  best. 

CARLISLE     AND     HAMPTON 

The  Carlisle  School  in  Pennsylvania  was  the 
first  non-reservation  boarding  school  to  be 
established,  a  pioneer  and  a  leader  in  this  im 
portant  class  of  schools,  of  which  there  are  now 
thirty-five,  scattered  throughout  the  Middle  and 
Western  States.  General  R.  H.  Pratt  (then 


70  The  Indian  To-day 

Lieutenant  Pratt),  while  in  charge  of  Indian 
prisoners  of  war  at  Saint  Augustine,  Florida, 
made  important  reforms  in  their  treatment, 
which  led  in  1878,  when  their  release  was  ordered 
by  the  War  Department,  to  a  request  on  the 
part  of  twenty-two  of  the  younger  men  for 
further  education.  Seventeen  of  these  were 
received  at  Hampton  Institute,  Virginia,  Gen 
eral  Armstrong's  celebrated  school  for  freedmen, 
and  the  next  year  an  Indian  department  was 
organized  at  Hampton,  while  General  Pratt  was 
authorized,  at  his  own  suggestion,  to  establish 
an  Indian  school  in  the  abandoned  army  bar 
racks  at  Carlisle. 

The  school  opened  with  147  pupils.  There 
were  many  difficulties  and  much  unintelligent 
opposition  in  the  beginning,  but  wonderful 
success  attended  General  Pratt's  administration. 
For  many  years  Carlisle  has  enrolled  about 
1,200  pupils  each  year,  keeping  almost  half  of 
them  on  farms  and  in  good  homes  in  Pennsyl 
vania  and  New  Jersey,  where  they  work  for 
board  and  wages  in  summer,  while  a  smaller 
number  attend  the  public  school  during  the 
colder  months.  They  earn  and  save  about 
thirty  thousand  dollars  annually.  This  "out 
ing  system"  was  devised  by  General  Pratt,  and 


The  Indian  in  School  71 

has  been  adopted  elsewhere,  though  not  always 
with  equal  success. 

Periodical  attacks  have  been  made  upon  the 
Carlisle  school,  usually  from  political  or  purely 
selfish  motives;  but  it  has  survived  them  all. 
General  Pratt's  policy  was  to  take  the  young 
Indian  wholly  out  of  his  environment  and  the 
motives  as  well  as  the  habits  of  his  former  life, 
and  in  support  of  it  he  has  opposed  some  of  the 
methods  of  the  missionaries.  His  advice  to 
his  graduates  is  to  remain  east  and  compete  in 
civilization.  He  has  worked  with  tremendous 
energy  and  great  single-mindedness,  and  has 
often  been  undiplomatic  in  his  criticisms,  thus 
incurring  some  enmity.  But,  upon  the  whole, 
his  theory  is  the  very  backbone  of  Indian  educa 
tion,  and  in  fact  we  are  following  it  to-day. 

It  is  the  impression  of  the  most  advanced 
members  of  the  race  that  he  has  rendered  to 
them  and  to  the  country,. a  particular  service, 
and  that  the  wonderful  progress  demonstrated 
by  the  Indian  in  recent  years  is  due  in  large 
measure  to  his  work,  and  to  its  results  as  seen 
at  Hampton  and  Carlisle.  These  schools  are 
visited  by  hundreds  of  people  every  year,  and 
have  furnished  a  convincing  object-lesson  to  the 
many  who  opposed  Indian  education  on  theory 


72  The  Indian  To-day 

alone.  The  other  thirty-four  non-reservation 
schools  were  secured  with  comparative  ease  after 
he  had  proved  his  case. 

The  Indian  department  at  Hampton  Institute, 
which  opened  in  1878  with  General  Pratt's 
seventeen  prisoners  of  war,  flourished  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  and  provided  for  the  educa 
tion  of  more  than  one  hundred  Indian  pupils 
each  year  in  "the  hand,  the  heart,  and  the 
head."  General  Armstrong,  one  of  America's 
heroes  of  peace,  was  an  enthusiastic  champion 
of  the  red  man's  cause,  and  as  an  object-lesson  to 
the  public,  as  well  as  in  training  native  teachers 
and  leaders,  his  great  school  has  contributed 
much  to  the  new  era.  It  was  decided  by  Con 
gress  a  year  or  two  ago  to  withdraw  the  Gov 
ernment  appropriation  of  $20,000  annually 
from  the  Hampton  school,  but  notwithstanding 
this,  more  than  thirty  Indian  pupils  remain  to 
work  their  way  through,  with  some  assistance 
from  free  scholarships. 

Hampton  claims  to  have  been  the  first  school 
to  begin  keeping  systematic  records  of  its  re 
turned  Indian  students,  and  by  means  of  these 
records  the  school  is  able  to  show  satisfactory 
and  encouraging  results  of  its  work  for  Indians. 

In  reply  to  the  oft-asked  question:  "Do  edu- 


The  Indian  in  School  73 

cated  Indians  go  back  to  the  blanket  ? "  it  should 
be  said,  first,  that  return  to  Indian  dress  in 
isolated  communities  where  this  is  still  the  com 
mon  dress  of  the  people  is  not  necessarily  retro 
gression.  It  may  be  only  a  wise  conformity  to 
custom.  Investigation  has  shown,  however, 
that  very  few  graduates  of  any  school  ever  do 
reassume  Indian  dress  or  ways.  Of  those  who 
have  attended  school  but  two  or  three  years  in 
all,  a  larger  proportion  may  do  so.  A  north 
western  school  reports  that  out  of  a  total  of 
234  graduates  only  three  are  known  to  be 
failures.  The  most  recent  Carlisle  report  shows 
that  of  565  living  graduates,  all  but  69  are 
known  to  be  profitably  employed  in  a  wide 
variety  of  occupations;  no  are  in  the  Govern 
ment  service.  There  are  also  3,800  ex-students, 
not  graduates,  of  whom  a  large  majority  are 
successful.  Hampton  has  878  living  returned 
Indian  students,  of  whom  87  per  cent,  are  re 
corded  as  doing  well. 

In  1897  the  Indian  Bureau  required  all  Indian 
agents  and  superintendents  to  report  upon  the 
conduct  and  usefulness  of  every  student  re 
turned  from  a  non-reservation  school.  Such 
an  investigation  was  sure  not  to  be  unduly 
favorable,  and  the  report  showed  76  per  cent. 


74  The  Indian  To-day 

of  successes.     In  1901   a  more  careful  inquiry 
raised  it  to  86  per  cent. 

MISSION    SCHOOLS    OF   TO-DAY 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  downfall  of 
the  contract  system  and  the  development  of 
Government  work  has  meant  the  end  of  dis 
tinctively  mission  schools  for  Indians.  Al 
though  a  few  have  been  closed,  there  are  still 
many  in  successful  operation  under  the  various 
church  boards,  the  Indians  themselves  willingly 
contributing  to  their  support.  Indeed,  this 
feature  of  partial  self-support  is  much  in  their 
favor,  as  it  is  certain  that  an  education  that 
costs  the  recipient  something  is  of  more  worth. 

Except  for  a  few  plants  taken  over  by  the 
Government,  the  Catholics  continue  to  conduct 
their  fine  agricultural  boarding-schools,  notably 
those  among  the  Sioux.  Bishop  Hare  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  began  his  labors  among  the 
same  people  in  1873;*  and  in  nothing  was  his 
statesmanlike  breadth  of  mind  more  clearly 
shown  than  in  the  foundation  of  a  system  of 
excellent  boarding-schools,  of  which  at  one 
time  there  were  five  under  his  watchful  care, 
where  from  thirty  to  seventy  children  each 
were  sheltered  and  taught  in  the  atmosphere  of 


The  Indian  in  School  75 

a  sunny  Christian  home.  It  was  impossible 
to  carry  them  all  after  the  discontinuance  of  all 
Government  aid,  either  in  money  or  rations,  but, 
although  the  Bishop  died  in  1909,  Saint  Mary's 
at  Rosebud  and  Saint  Elizabeth's  at  Standing 
Rock  remain  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  conducts  two  suc 
cessful  boarding  and  a  number  of  day  schools; 
and  the  Congregationalists  have  concentrated 
their  efforts  upon  a  large  training-school  at 
Santee,  Nebraska,  under  the  veteran  mission 
ary  teacher,  Rev.  Alfred  L.  Riggs.  At  Santee 
the  Indian  boys  and  girls  are  given  a  practical 
education  developed  to  fit  their  peculiar  needs 
—its  goal  the  training  of  teachers,  preachers, 
and  leaders  in  every  walk  of  life.  Here  I  re 
ceived  my  first  impulse  toward  a  career  in 
1875-6.  In  all  these  schools,  even  those  where 
the  material  equipment  is  insufficient,  there  is 
more  emphasis  upon  character-building,  more 
of  permanence  and  in  general  higher  qualifica 
tions  in  the  teaching  force  than  under  Govern 
ment. 

VIRTUES  AND  DEFECTS  OF  THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM 

There  has  been  nearly  $90,000,000  appropri 
ated  by  Congress  since  1876  for  Indian  educa- 


i/trf 

76  The  Indian  To-day 

tion.  The  appropriation  for  1915  was  over 
$4,500,000.  Yet  even  more  is  needed.  The 
Indian  Bureau  estimates  77,000  Indian  chil 
dren  of  school  age;  of  these  about  27,000  are 
provided  for  in  Government  schools,  4,000  in 
mission  and  25,000  in  public  schools,  leaving 
about  20,000  entirely  neglected,  besides  an  esti 
mated  7,000  sick  and  defective  children,  who 
need  hospital  schools  or  some  form  of  special 
care. 

The  present  system  includes  day  and  boarding 
schools  on  the  reservations,  as  well  as  the  large 
industrial  schools  off  the  reservations.  In  1913 

,  there  were  reported  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  day  schools  and  seventy-six  reservation 

^/boarding-schools.     The  training  in  the  former 

Ks  elementary;   and   the   most   advanced   goes 
little  beyond  the  eighth  grammar  grade  in  the 

/  public  school,  though  at  Carlisle  and  a  few  others 
there  are  short  normal  and  business  courses. 
In  1882  a  superintendent  was  appointed  to 
inspect  and  correlate  these  widely  scattered 
institutions,  and  a  few  years  later  a  corps  of 
supervisors  was  put  in  the  field.  Since  1891 
there  have  been  institutes  and  summer  schools 
conducted  for  the  benefit  of  the  teachers. 

It  is  the  rule  in  all  boarding-schools  that  one 


The  Indian  in  School  77 

half  the  time  of  each  pupil  be  given  to  industrial 
work,  which  includes  most  of  the  labor  involved 
in  running  the  kitchen,  dining-room,  laundry, 
sewing-room,   and  school  farm  or  garden,   as 
well   as   systematic  training  in   housekeeping, 
agriculture,  and  the  mechanical  trades.     The 
age  of  graduation  is  usually  from  seventeen  to 
twenty-five  or  even  more.     This  retardation  is 
to  be  attributed  partly  to  the  half-day  system; 
partly  to  frequent  transfers  from  one  school  to 
another,  and  consequent  loss  of  grade;  and  in 
the  poorer  schools  to  inefficiency  of  teachers  and  «-* 
lack  of  ambition  on  the  part  of  pupils.     It  must 
be  remembered,  moreover,  that  the  subjects  and 
methods  of  study,  in  language,  mathematics,  and  c 
abstract  ideas  of  all  kinds,  were  entirely  foreign 
to  the  untutored  Indian  mind.     It  is  difficult  to 
study  in  a  foreign  language  even  when  the  sub-  ' 
ject  of  study  is  familiar;  the  Indian  student  is 
expected  to  master  subjects  absolutely  unknown  * 
to  him  in  his  own  life.    Yet  I  have  heard  teachers 
experienced  in  public  school  work  declare  that  , 
these  children  of  nature    are  as  responsive  as 
white  children;  in  writing  and  drawing  they  ex-  ^ 
eel;  and  discipline  is  easier,  at  least  among  the 
wilder  tribes.    The  result  in  thirty  or  forty  years     *• 
has  opened  the  eyes  of  many  who  heretofore  held 


78  The  Indian  To-day 

the  theory  that  the  Indian  will  always  remain 
Indian. 

Admitting  that  these  schools  compare  well 
with  state  institutions  which  are  on  a  similar 
basis,  and  are  controlled  by  political  appoint 
ments,  there  are  some  abuses,  as  might  be 
expected.  While  there  are  fine  men  in  charge 
of  certain  schools,  there  are  others  who  are 
neither  efficient  nor  sympathetic  with  the  cause 
of  Indian  uplift.  Most  regrettable  is  the  fact 
that  the  moral  influence  of  such  schools  has  been 
at  different  times  very  low.  The  pupils  them 
selves  have  come  to  look  upon  them  as  political 
institutions  and  to  discard  all  genuine  effort. 
It  is  a  case  of  serve  the  master  and  he  will  not 
bother  you;  all  else  is  merely  show.  I  believe 
that  there  has  been  some  improvement  in  recent 
years,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  protection  given 
by  the  rules  of  the  civil  service.  Let  the  teacher 
set  an  example  of  honest  living  and  the  scholar 
will  be  sure  to  follow;  but  if  the  one  is  a  hypo 
crite,  the  other  will  become  one.  Remember, 
you  have  induced  or  forced  the  Indian  mother 
to  give  up  her  five  and  six  year  old  children  on 
your  promise  to  civilize,  educate,  Christianize — 
but  not  subsidize  or  commercialize  them! 

Some  of  the   reservations   are  oversupplied 


The  Indian  in  School  79 

with  schools,  while  others,  notably  the  Navajo, 
have  almost  none.  In  the  former  case,  the 
Indian  parents  are  kept  in  an  anxious  state  and 
often  very  unhappy.  Since  the  Indian  Bureau 
has  required  the  superintendent  to  keep  up  his 
quota  of  pupils,  or  the  number  of  teachers  and 
the  total  appropriation  will  be  reduced  in  pro 
portion,  he  may  be  compelled,  as  some  one  has 
said,  to  "rob  the  cradle  and  the  grave" — in 
other  words,  he  is  not  careful  to  omit  those 
under  age  and  the  sickly  ones.  Much  harm  has 
been  done  by  placing  children  in  an  advanced 
stage  of  tuberculosis  in  the  same  dormitory  with 
healthy  youngsters.  Irregular  attendance  is  too 
often  tolerated;  and  a  serious  evil  is  the  admis 
sion  of  children  of  well-to-do  parents,  who  dress 
their  young  folks  extravagantly,  supply  them 
with  unlimited  spending  money,  and  who,  in  all 
reason,  should  be  required  to  pay  for  their  sup 
port  and  education. 

Another  drawback  lies  in  the  fact  that  each 
new  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  usually  a 
man  without  special  knowledge  or  experience 
in  the  complex  work  over  which  he  is  called  to 
preside,  comes  out  with  a  scheme  for  reforming 
the  whole  system.  Perhaps  he  advocates  doing 
away  with  Carlisle  and  the  schools  of  its  class, 


8o  The  Indian  To-day 

and  places  all  the  emphasis  upon  the  little  day 
schools  in  the  Indian  camps;  or  it  may  be  vice 
versa.  All  the  advance  we  have  made  is  through 
all  of  these  schools;  we  cannot  spare  any  of 
them.  We  should  be  a  thousand  times  better 
off  if  the  reformers  could  rid  us  of  the  profes 
sional  politicians,  but  I  fear  this  is  impossible. 
I  have  abandoned  all  hope  of  it,  after  long 
experience  both  in  the  field  and  in  Washington. 
I  would  give  up  anything  rather  than  the  schools, 
unmoral  as  many  of  them  are.  The  pupils 
become  every  year  better  fitted  to  choose  and 
to  combat  the  evil  in  their  environment.  They 
will  soon  be  able  to  prepare  themselves  for  the 
new  life  without  taking  notice  of  what  does  not 
concern  them.  I  rejoice  in  every  real  gain;  and 
I  predict  that  the  Indian  will  soon  adjust  him 
self  fully  to  the  requirements  of  the  age,  be  able 
to  appreciate  its  magnificent  achievements,  and 
contribute  his  mite  to  the  modern  development 
of  the  land  of  his  ancestors. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  INDIAN  AT  HOME 

"""*"* — 1 

ALTHOUGH  among  the  graduates  and  ex-students 
of  the  Indian  schools  there  are  now  some  in 
almost  every  modern  occupation,  including 
commerce;  the  "trades  and  professions,  the  great 
majority  of  these  young  people,  as  of  their 
fellow  tribesmen  who  lack  an  English  education, 
are  farmers,  ranchers,  and  stockmen.  Nearly 
all  Indians  own  some  land,  either  individually 
or  in  common;  and  while  it  may  generally  be 
leased  by  those  who  are  either  unable  or  for 
good  reasons  do  not  desire  to  work  it  themselves, 
this  is  done  under  such  troublesome  restrictions 
and  conditions  that  it  is,  as  a  general  rule,  better 
for  the  owner  to  live  on  and  utilize  his  allotment. 
Of  course  this  is  a  rule  that  admits  of  many 
exceptions. 

THE    PROBLEM    OF    SELF-SUPPORT 

Since  most  Indian  reservations  are  in  the  arid 
belt  and  the  greater  portion  of  the  land  is  there- 
Si 


82  The  Indian  To-day 

fore  unsuited  to  agriculture,  at  least  without 
extensive  irrigation,  perhaps  the  larger  number 
of  the  men  are  stock-raisers,  an  occupation  well 
suited  to  the  Plains  Indians,  who  are  great 
riders  and  very  fond  of  their  horses.  They  raise 
both  horses  and  cattle,  and  many  have  become 
well-to-do  from  this  source.  From  time  to  time 
their  herds  are  improved  by  well-bred  stallions 
and  mares  and  blooded  cattle,  furnished  by  the 
Government  under  treaty  stipulations.  The 
total  valuation  of  stock  belonging  to  Indians, 
both  individual  and  tribal,  is  now  twenty-two 
million  dollars  in  round  numbers,  according  to 
the  tables  furnished  by  the  Indian  Bureau. 
This  estimate  includes  sheep,  goats,  and  poultry. 
The  Navajoes,  who  number  about  22,000  and 
are  in  a  fairly  primitive  state,  having  few  schools 
or  missionaries  among  them,  are  thrifty  and 
successful  sheep-herders  and  entirely  self-sup 
porting.  The  value  of  crops  raised  by  Indians 
during  the  last  fiscal  year  is  estimated  at  more 
than  four  millions. 

**  In  a  word,  the  typical  red  man  of  to-day  is  a 
ranch>r-tnr-a4-arge~or  small  scale.  He  has  dis 
played  quite  as  much  intelligence  and  aptitude 
for  the  work  as  could  be  expected.  There  have 
been  serious  handicaps,  other  than  the  tradition 


The  Indian  at  Home  83 

among  us  that  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  is  a 
feminine  rather  than  a  manly  occupation.  I 
may  mention  the  occupation  of  the  best  lands 
by  white  settlers,  with  or  without  our  consent; 
the  ration  system;  and  the  "spoils  system"  as 
applied  to  the  appointment  of  our  superintend 
ents  and  instructors  in  farming. 

Take  the  Sioux,  for  example — a  strong  and 
self-respecting  people  who  had  shown  a  willing 
ness  to  fight  for  their  rights  when  it  became 
necessary.  They  were  presently  corralled  upon 
reservations  in  a  land  of  little  rain,  and  given 
enough  food  to  sustain  life,  under  a  solemn 
engagement  to  continue  feeding  "until  they  be 
came  self-supporting."  There  was  scant  oppor 
tunity  and  still  less  inducement  to  become  so; 
accordingly  only  a  few  of  the  more  ambitious  or 
energetic  worked  at  teaming  or  whatever  they 
could  get  to  do,  improved  their  homes,  acquired 
stock,  and  gradually  fought  their  way  upward. 
For  many  years  this  clause  in  the  treaty  was 
not  applied  to  individuals;  that  is,  it  was  inter 
preted  to  mean  that  all  should  receive  rations 
until  all  became  self-supporting.  Twenty  years 
ago,  when  I  lived  among  them  as  agency  doctor, 
Government  and  mission  workers  of  Indian 
blood,  well-to-do  mixed  bloods,  and  intermarried 


84  The  Indian  To-day 

white  men  all  drew  their  rations  regularly,  with 
very  few  exceptions. 

About  a  dozen  years  ago  tardy  steps  were 
taken  to  carry  out  the  evident  intention  of  the 
treaty,  which  had  hitherto  been  defeated  by 
keeping  it  to  the  letter.  Rations  were  with 
drawn  from  all  who  had  other  sufficient  means  of 
support.  This  seemed  like  imposing  a  penalty 
upon  industry;  but  it  was  soon  followed  by  re 
quiring  all  able-bodied  men  to  perform  a  certain 
amount  of  labor  for  the  common  benefit,  such 
as  road-making,  bridge  building,  etc.,  in  return 
for  money  or  rations.  This  was  a  great  advance 
even  though  accompanied  by  some  evils,  notably 
the  neglect  of  allotments  while  their  families 
camped  with  the  gangs  of  laborers  on  different 
parts  of  the  reservation.  Later,  the  same  credit 
was  allowed  for  days'  labor  performed  in  im 
proving  their  own  homesteads  and  putting  up 
hay  for  their  cattle.  More  cows  and  better 
farming  implements  have  been  issued  in  recent 
years,  and  there  is  a  wholesome  effort  to  make 
the  work  of  the  so-called  agency  or  "district 
farmers"  less  of  a  farce  than  it  has  often  been 
in  the  past. 

These  farmers  number  about  250  and  are 
employees  of  the  Indian  service.  They  are 


The  Indian  at  Home  85 

supposed  to  instruct  and  assist  the  Indians  of 
their  respective  districts  in  modern  methods 
of  agriculture;  but  there  has  been  a  time,  prob 
ably  not  altogether  past,  when  they  were  occu 
pied  chiefly  in  drawing  water,  filling  ice-houses, 
and  a  variety  of  similar  "chores"  for  the  agent 
andhis  subordinates.  In  manycases  theythem- 
selves  knew  little  of  practical  farming,  or  their 
experience  lay  in  a  soil  and  climate  utterly  unlike 
that  of  the  Indian  country  to  which  they  came. 

Hon.  Cato  Sells,  the  present  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Affairs,  states  in  his  first  annual  report 
that  he  is  placing  more  emphasis  upon  agricul 
ture  than  upon  any  other  activity  of  the  Indian 
Bureau.  He  requires  the  farmers  to  make  their 
homes  in  the  districts  to  which  they  are  assigned, 
and  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  people.  They 
are  furnished  with  modern  agricultural  text 
books,  and  demonstration  farms  or  experiment 
*  stations  are  maintained  at  convenient  points. 
Thirty-seven  practical  stockmen  have  also  been 
employed  to  give  special  attention  to  this  part 
of  the  work,  and  the  Indians  are  said  to  be  co 
operating  intelligently  in  the  effort  to  improve 
their  breeding  stock. 

At  certain  agencies  farming  implements  and 
seed  are  loaned  to  Indians  who  have  no  other 


86  The  Indian  To-day 

means  of  securing  them,  and  hundreds  who 
have  been  so  helped  are  meeting  their  pay 
ments  when  due  with  commendable  promptness. 
Agricultural  fairs  have  been  held  in  recent  years 
at  twenty  or  more  Indian  agencies,  arousing 
much  local  interest,  and  an  increasing  number  of 
Indian  farmers  are  taking  part  in  county  and 
state  fairs. 

In  several  of  the  Northwestern  States  the 
value  of  the  timber  on  Indian  lands  is  enormous; 
the  latest  official  estimate  is  eighty-four  million 
dollars.  If  the  Indian  had  been  allowed  to  cut 
his  own  pine  and  run  his  own  sawmills,  we 
should  now  have  native  lumber  kings  as  well  as 
white.  This  is  not  permitted,  however;  and  a 
paternal  Government  sells  the  stumpage  for 
the  benefit  of  its  wards,  who  are  fortunate  if  the 
money  received  for  it  has  not  seeped  out  of  the 
official  envelope  or  withered  away  of  the  pre 
vailing  disease  called  "political  consumption." 

The  irrigation  force  of  the  Bureau  consists  of 
an  inspector  and  seven  subordinates,  who  su 
pervise  irrigation  projects  on  the  various  reser 
vations,  upon  which  more  than  half  a  million 
dollars  was  expended  during  the  last  fiscal  year. 
The  protection  of  water  rights,  notably  those 
of  the  Pimas  in  Arizona,  a  peaceful  and  indus- 


The  Indian  at  Home  87 

trious  tribe  who  have  suffered  severely  from  the 
loss  of  their  water  at  the  hands  of  unprincipled 
white  men,  is  of  primary  importance. 

Oil  and  gas,  especially  in  Oklahoma,  are  prov 
ing  enormously  valuable,  and  are  being  mined 
under  leases  executed  by  the  Bureau.  Many 
Indians  are  becoming  well-to-do  from  the  pay 
ment  of  royalties,  but  it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
the  biggest  prizes  go,  as  usual,  to  our  white 
brothers. 

The  Indian  office  maintains  an  employment 
bureau  to  assist  in  finding  profitable  work  for 
Indians,  particularly  returned  students,  and  I 
am  informed  from  trustworthy  sources  that  it 
has  met  with  fair  success.  It  is  headed  by  a 
Carlisle  graduate,  Charles  E.  Dagenett,  who 
was  trained  for  a  business  career.  Considerable 
numbers  of  Indians,  particularly  in  the  south 
west,  are  provided  with  employment  in  the 
sugar-beet  fields,  in  harvesting  canteloupes  and 
other  fruits,  in  railroad  construction,  irrigation 
projects,  and  other  fields  of  activity,  and  it  ap 
pears  that  their  work  gives  general  satisfaction. 

INDIAN  WOMEN  AS  HOME-MAKERS 

Probably  the  average  white  man'still  believes 
that  the  Indian  woman  of  the  old  days  was  little 


88  The  Indian  To-day 

more  than  a  beast  of  burden  to  her  husband. 
But  the  missionary  who  has  lived  among  his 
people,  the  sympathetic  observer  of  their  every 
day  life,  holds  a  very  different  opinion.  You 
may  generally  see  the  mother  and  her  babe 
folded  close  in  one  shawl,  indicating  the  real 
and  most  important  business  of  her  existence. 
Without  the  child,  life  is  but  a  hollow  play, 
and  all  Indians  pity  the  couple  who  are  unable 
to  obey  the  primary  command,  the  first  law  of 
real  happiness. 

She  has  always  been  the  silent  but  telling 
power  behind  life's  activities,  and  at  the  same 
time  shared  equally  with  her  mate  the  arduous 
duties  of  primitive  society.  Possessed  of  true 
feminine  dignity  and  modesty,  she  was  expected 
to  be  his  equal  in  physical  endurance  and  skill, 
but  his  superior  in  spiritual  insight.  She  was 
looked  to  for  the  endowment  of  her  child  with 
nature's  gifts  and  powers,  and  no  woman  of  any 
race  has  ever  come  closer  to  universal  mother 
hood. 

She  was  the  spiritual  teacher  of  the  child,  as 
well  as  its  tender  nurse,  and  she  brought  its 
developing  soul  before  the  "Great  Mystery  "  as 
soon  as  she  was  aware  of  its  coming.  When 
she  had  finished  her  work,  at  the  age  of  five  to 


The  Indian  at  Home  89 

eight  years,  she  turned  her  boy  over  to  his  father 
for  manly  training,  and  to  the  grandparents  for 
traditional  instruction,  but  the  girl  child  re 
mained  under  her  close  and  thoughtful  super 
vision.  She  preserved  man  from  soul-killing 
materialism  by  herself  owning  what  few  posses 
sions  they  had,  and  thus  branding  possession  as 
feminine.  The  movable  home  was  hers,  with 
all  its  belongings,  and  she  ruled  there  unques 
tioned.  She  was,  in  fact,  the  moral  salvation 
of  the  race;  all  virtue  was  entrusted  to  her,  and 
her  position  was  recognized  by  all.  It  was 
held  in  all  gentleness  and  discretion,  under  the 
rule  that  no  woman  could  talk  much  or  loudly 
until  she  became  a  grandmother. 

The  Indian  woman  suffered  greatly  during 
the  transition  period  of  civilization,  when  men 
were  demoralized  by  whiskey,  and  possession 
became  masculine.  The  division  of  labor  did 
not  readily  adjust  itself  to  the  change,  so  that 
her  burdens  were  multiplied  while  her  influence 
decreased.  Tribe  after  tribe  underwent  the  ca 
tastrophe  of  a  disorganized  and  disunited  family 
life. 

To-day,  I  am  glad  to  say,  we  have  still  reason 
to  thank  our  Indian  mothers  for  the  best  part 
of  our  manhood.  A  great  many  of  them  are 


90  The  Indian  To-day 

earnest  Christian  women,  who  have  carried  their 
native  uprightness  and  devoted  industry  over 
into  the  new  life.  The  annual  reports  of  the 
missionaries  show  large  sums,  running  into  the 
thousands  of  dollars,  raised  by  the  self-denying 
labor  of  the  native  women  for  the  support  of 
their  churches  and  other  Christian  work. 

As  the  men  have  gradually  assumed  the  re 
sponsibility  of  the  outdoor  toil,  cultivating  the 
fields  and  building  the  houses,  the  women  have 
undertaken  the  complicated  housekeeping  tasks 
of  their  white  sisters.  It  is  true  that  until  they 
understood  the  civilized  way  of  cooking  and  the 
sanitation  of  stationary  homes,  the  race  declined 
in  health  and  vigor.  For  the  great  improve 
ment  noticeable  in  these  directions,  much  credit 
is  due  to  the  field  matrons  of  the  Indian  Service. 

The  field  matron  is  sometimes  called  the 
"Going-around  woman,"  or  the  "Clean-up 
woman,"  and  her  house-to-house  teaching  and 
inspection  is  undoubtedly  of  much  practical 
value.  She  is  often  the  physician's  right  hand 
in  follow-up  work  among  his  patients,  especially 
the  women  and  children.  Some  of  the  most 
efficient  women  in  the  service  are  themselves  of 
Indian  blood,  such  as  Mrs.  Annie  Dawson  Wilde 
of  Fort  Berthold,  a  graduate  of  Hampton  and 


The  Indian  at  Home  91 

of  a  state  normal  school,  who  has  given  many 
years  to  this  work.  Similar  instruction  is  some 
times  given  by  day-school  teachers  and  woman 
missionaries, 

MARRIAGE    AND   THE    FAMILY 

The  social  morality  of  the  various  tribes 
differs  very  much  at  the  present  time.  Under 
our  original  customs,  the  purity  of  woman  and 
the  home  was  safeguarded  by  strict  rules,  with 
severe  penalties  for  their  transgression.  When, 
however,  native  customs  were  broken  down  with 
out  the  efficient  substitution  of  civilized  laws, 
there  was  much  social  irregularity. 

Plural  marriages  were  permissible  under  our 
system,  but  were  not  very  general,  and  plural 
wives  were  usually  sisters.  The  missionaries, 
and  in  some  instances  the  Federal  authorities, 
have  required  elderly  men  to  abandon  all  but 
one  wife,  leading  to  difficult  problems.  Many 
of  the  younger  generation  are  now  legally  mar 
ried,  and  an  effort  is  made  to  oblige  them  to 
secure  legal  divorces  when  a  separation  is  sought, 
but  as  some  state  courts  hold  that  they  have  no 
jurisdiction  to  hear  applications  of  non-citizen 
Indians  living  on  reservations,  this  is  often  im 
practicable,  and  naturally  the  dissatisfied  simply 


92  The  Indian  To-day 

abandon  wife  or  husband,  and  perhaps  take 
another  by  Indian  custom  only.  It  is  advisable 
that  family  records  be  more  strictly  kept  than 
is  now  the  case. 

UNEDUCATED  LEADERS  AMONG  INDIANS 

I  wish  to  refute  the  common  misconception 
that  it  is  only  the  educated  and  Christian  Indian 
who  has  contributed  to  the  progress  of  his  people 
and  to  the  common  good  of  both  races.  There 
are  many  men  wholly  unlettered,  and  some  of 
whom  have  not  proclaimed  themselves  followers 
of  Christ,  who  have  yet  exerted  great  influence 
on  the  side  of  civilization.  Almost  every  tribe 
has  a  hero  of  this  type  who  arose  at  a  critical 
juncture  to  lead  his  fellows. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century 
there  was  Little  Turtle,  a  celebrated  Miami 
chief,  who,  to  be  sure,  defended  his  country 
bravely,  but  when  he  made  a  treaty  he  stood  by 
it  faithfully,  and  advocated  peace  and  civiliza 
tion  for  his  people.  The  Pottawatomie  chief 
Pokagon  was  another,  whose  son  Simon  Pokagon 
was  prominent  at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago. 
A  leading  contemporary  of  these  men  was 
Keokuk  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes.  Wabashaw  the 
third,  of  the  Mississippi  Sioux,  was  known  as  a 


The  Indian  at  Home  93 

strong  friend  to  civilization;  and  so  was  my  own 
great-grandfather,  Chief  Cloud  Man,  whose 
village  occupied  the  present  site  of  the  city  of 
Minneapolis.  His  son,  Appearing  Sacred  Stone, 
whose  English  name  was  David  Weston,  was  a 
fine  character— a  hereditary  chief  who  took  a 
homestead  at  Flandreau  and  became  a  native 
preacher  under  Bishop  Hare. 

Chief  Strike-the-Ree,  by  whose  influence  and 
diplomacy  the  Yankton  Sioux  were  kept  neutral 
throughout  the  Sioux  wars;  Lone  Wolf  of  the 
Kiowas,  Quanah  Parker  of  the  Comanches, 
whose  mother  was  a  white  captive,  and  Governor 
James  Big  Heart  of  the  Osages  were  all  men  of 
this  type,  natural  leaders  and  statesmen.  Iron 
Eyes,  or  Joseph  La  Flesche,  a  head  chief  of  the 
Omahas,  was  a  notable  leader  in  progressive 
ways;  and  so  is  John  Grass  of  the  Blackfoot 
Sioux,  also  a  distinguished  orator. 

Men  like  this,  of  native  force  and  fire,  but 
without  advantages  other  than  those  shared 
by  the  mass  of  their  people,  are  possibly  more 
deserving  of  honor  than  are  the  few  who  have 
made  the  most  of  exceptional  opportunities.  If 
anything,  they  illustrate  more  clearly  the  innate 
capacity  and  moral  strength  of  the  race. 

When  it  is  considered  that  of  the  three  hun- 


94  The  Indian  To-day 

dred  and  odd  thousand  Indians  in  the  United 
States,  only  about  two  thirds  are  still  living  on 
reservations  under  the  control  of  the  Indian 
Bureau,  the'official  figures  concerning  that  two 
thirds  are  surprising  to  most  of  us.  We  are 
told  that  50,000  able-bodied  adults  are  entirely 
self-supporting,  and  that  only  17,000  Indians 
of  all  classes  are  receiving  rations.  Twenty-two 
thousand  are  employed  on  wages  and  salaries, 
earning  more  than  two  million  dollars  yearly. 
Three  fourths  of  the  families  live  in  permanent 
houses;  100,000  persons  speak  English,  and 
161,000  wear  citizen's  clothing.  Such  is  the 
average  present-day  Indian  at  home — a  man 
who  earns  his  own  living,  speaks  the  language 
of  the  country,  wears  its  dress,  and  obeys  its 
laws.  Surely  it  is  but  one  step  further  to  Amer 
ican  citizenship! 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  INDIAN  AS  A  CITIZEN 

WE  HAVE  taken  note  of  the  reluctance  of  the 
American  Indian  to  develop  an  organized  com 
munity  life,  though  few  appreciate  his  reasons 
for  preferring  a  simpler  social  ideal.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  as  well  as  sentiment,  he  was  well  content 
with  his  own  customs  and  philosophy.  Never 
theless,  after  due  protest  and  resistance,  he  has 
accepted  the  situation;  and,  having  accepted  it, 
he  is  found  to  be  easily  governed  by  civilized 
law  and  usages.  It  has  been  demonstrated  more 
than  once  that  he  is  capable  of  sustaining  a 
high  moral  and  social  standard  when  placed 
under  wise  guidance  and  at  the  same  time  pro 
tected  from  the  barbarians  of  civilization. 

MODEL    INDIAN    COMMUNITIES 

William     Duncan,     an     Englishman,    came 
among  a  band  of  Alaskan  natives   about  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  and  they  formed  a 
95 


96  The  Indian  To-day 

strong  mutual  attachment.  The  friendship  of 
these  simple  people  was  not  misplaced,  and 
Mr.  Duncan  did  not  misuse  it  for  his  own  ad 
vantage,  as  is  too  apt  to  be  the  case  with  a 
white  man.  He  adapted  himself  to  their  tem 
perament  and  sense  of  natural  justice,  but  grad 
ually  led  them  to  prefer  civilized  habits  and  in 
dustries,  and  finally  to  accept  the  character  of 
Christ  as  their  standard.  He  used  the  forms  of 
the  Church  of  England,  but  modified  them  as 
good  sense  dictated. 

They  worked  together  in  good  faith  for  a 
generation;  and  as  a  result  there  was  founded 
the  Christian  community  of  Metlakatla,  Alaska, 
almost  an  ideal  little  republic,  so  long  as  no  self- 
seekingAnglo-Saxon  interfered  with  its  workings. 
The  Indians  became  carpenters,  blacksmiths, 
farmers,  gardeners,  as  well  as  better  fishermen. 
They  established  a  sawmill  and  a  salmon  can 
nery.  They  built  houses  and  boats,  and  fin 
ally  a  steamboat,  which  was  run  by  one  of  their 
number.  Mr.  Duncan  never  allowed  strong 
drink  to  enter  the  colony;  he  was  the  only  white 
man  among  a  thousand  Indians,  and  so  strong 
was  their  faith  in  him  that  he  was  accepted  as 
/  their  leader  both  practically  and  spiritually. 
He  devoted  his  whole  life  to  them,  and  never 


The  Indian  as  a  Citizen  97 

married.  Some  of  the  young  people  he  sent 
away  to  the  States  to  school:  among  them  Ed 
ward  Marsden,  a  many-sided  man,  who  is  not 
only  a  graduate  of  a  small  college  in  Ohio  and 
of  a  theological  seminary,  but  has  some  knowl 
edge  of  law  and  medicine,  is  an  able  seaman, 
and  an  efficient  machinist. 

The  Metlakatlans  are  not  technically  citizens, 
though  discharging  many  civic  duties.  In  1887 
they  were  compelled  to  leave  their  island  on 
account  of  difficulties  with  the  local  church 
authorities,  who  were  not  broad  enough  to  ad 
mit  the  simple  sufficiency  of  Mr.  Duncan's  lay 
ministrations.  He  removed  with  his  people  to 
another  island,  where  they  are  now  living  under 
the  protection  of  the  United  States  flag.  In 
view  of  the  lessons  of  history,  they  are  likely  to 
undergo  a  severe  trial  and  considerable  demor 
alization  as  soon  as  they  mingle  freely  with  the 
surrounding  whites.  They  have  so  far  devel 
oped  and  enjoyed  much  of  what  is  best  in  civili 
zation  without  its  evils  and  temptations;  and 
whenever  one  of  them  does  infringe  upon  their 
simple  but  exacting  code  he  is  summarily  dealt  j' 
with. 

Here  is  another  illustration:     In  1869  those 
Sioux  who  had  been  for  three  years  confined  in  a 


98  The  Indian  To-day 

military  prison,  on  account  of  the  outbreak 
of  1862,  were  placed  upon  a  small  reservation 
at  Santee,  Nebraska.  My  father  was  among 
them.  He  had  thought  much,  and  concluded 
that  reservation  life  meant  practically  life  im 
prisonment  and  death  to  manhood.  He  also 
saw  that  our  wild  life  was  almost  at  an  end; 
therefore  he  resolved  to  grasp  the  only  chance 
remaining  to  the  red  man — namely,  to  plunge 
boldly  into  the  white  man's  life,  and  swim 
or  die. 

With  twenty-five  or  thirty  fellow-tribesmen 
who  were  of  like  mind  with  himself,  he  set  out 
for  the  Big  Sioux  River  to  take  up  a  homestead 
like  a  white  man.  Far  from  urging  it,  Govern 
ment  officials  disapproved  and  discouraged  this 
brave  undertaking.  The  Indians  selected  a 
choice  location,  forty  miles  above  what  is  now 
the  beautiful  little  city  of  Sioux  Falls,  South 
Dakota,  and  here  they  established  the  first 
Sioux  citizen  community.  The  post-office  was 
named  Flandreau,  and  formed  the  nucleus  of  a 
large  and  flourishing  town.  Remember,  this 
was  six  years  before  Sitting  Bull  and  Crazy 
Horse  made  their  last  stand  on  the  Little  Big 
Horn,  where  they  wiped  out  General  Custer's 
command,  the  Seventh  Cavalry. 


The  Indian  as  a  Citizen  99 

This  remarkable  Indian  colony  became  known 
far  and  wide.  The  Sioux  were  bona  fide  home 
steaders  and  met  all  the  requirements  of  the  law. 
They  occupied  thirty  miles  of  the  finest  bottom 
lands  with  their  timber;  except  for  these  wooded 
river  bottoms,  the  country  is  all  treeless  prairie. 
They  were  all  Presbyterians  and  devout  church 
goers.  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson  was  their 
much-loved  missionary;  and  their  church  was 
served  for  many  years  by  a  native  pastor — 
my  brother,  Rev.  John  Eastman.  Nearly  all 
built  good  homes.  Mr.  Williamson  says,  and 
Moody  County  records  corroborate  the  state 
ment,  that  for  twenty  years  there  was  not  a 
single  crime  or  misdemeanor  recorded  against 
one  of  these  Indians. 

As  the  Big  Sioux  valky  is  noted  for  its  fer 
tility,  it  was  not  long  before  the  rest  of  the  land 
was  taken  up  by  white  farmers.  These  Indians 
proved  good  neighbors.  It  is  told  of  them  that, 
during  the  hard  years  1873  to  1875,  when 
drought  and  grasshoppers  afflicted  the  land,  they 
organized  a  relief  society  for  the  benefit  of  their 
poorer  white  neighbors,  and  in  many  instances 
furnished  them  with  cordwood  as  well  as  seed- 
corn  and  potatoes. 

For  years  the  Flandreau  Sioux  controlled  the 


ioo  The  Indian  To-day 

politics  of  Moody  County,  and  although  after 
the  district  had  become  more  thickly  settled 
they  lost  their  numerical  preponderance,  they 
still  wielded  much  influence  in  years  when  the 
parties  were  pretty  equally  divided.  As  late 
as  1898  they  held  the  balance  of  power,  and 
were  accordingly  treated  with  respectful  con 
sideration. 

From  this  little  Indian  community  more  than 
one  earnest  youth  has  gone  forth  to  work  for 
race  and  country  in  a  wider  field.  My  father 
brought  me  there  from  wild  life  in  Canada  in 
1872,  and  after  two  years  in  the  little  day  school 
he  sent  me  away  to  master  the  secret  of  the 
white  man's  power.  Only  a  few  years  earlier 
he  himself  was  a  wild  Sioux  warrior,  whose 
ambitions  ran  wholly  along  the  traditional  lines 
of  his  people.  Who  can  say  that  civilization  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  untutored  primitive 
man  in  a  single  generation?  It  did  not  take 
my  father  two  thousand  years,  or  ten  years,  to 
grasp  its  essential  features;  and  although  he 
never  went  to  school  a  day  in  his  life,  he  lived  a 
broad-minded  and  self-respecting  citizen.  It 
took  me  about  fifteen  years  to  prepare  to  enter 
it  on  the  plane  of  a  professional  man,  and  I  have 
stayed  with  it  ever  since. 


The  Indian  ^s  a>  Citizen  101 

It  is  noticeable  that  when  the  Flandreaus  con 
sented  to  reenter  their  names  on  the  tribal  rolls 
in  order  to  regain  their  inheritance,  they  fell 
into  the  claws  of  the  professional  politicians, 
and  a  degree  of  demoralization  set  in.  Yet 
during  the  early  period  of  free  initiative  and 
self-development,  some  of  their  best  youth  had 
gone  out  and  are  now  lost  in  the  world  at  large, 
in  the  sense  that  they  are  wholly  separated  from 
their  former  life,  and  are  contributing  their 
mite  to  the  common  good.  Those  who  remain, 
as  well  as  other  bands  of  citizen  Sioux  with 
whom  I  am  acquainted,  are  becoming  more  and 
more  completely  identified  with  the  general 
farming  population  of  Nebraska  and  the  Da-  V 
kotas. 

LEGAL  STATUS  OF  INDIANS 

The  door  to  American  citizenship  has  been  ^ 
open  to  the  Indian  in  general  only  since  the  ^ 
passage  of  the  Dawes  severalty  act,  in  1887.0- 
Before  that  date  his  status  was  variously  de 
fined  as  that  of  a  member  of  an  independent 
foreign    nation,    of    a    "domestic    dependent 
nation,"   as   a  ward  of  the  Government,   or, 
as  some  one  has  wittily  said,  a  "perpetual  in 
habitant  with  diminutive  rights."     The  Dawes 


IO2-  Tlie*  Indian.  To-day 

act  conferred  upon  those  who  accepted  allot 
ments  of  land  in  severalty  the  protection  of  the 
courts  and  all  the  rights  of  citizenship,  including 
the  suffrage.  It  also  provided  that  the  land 
thus  patented  to  the  individual  Indian  could 
not  be  alienated  nor  was  it  taxable  for  a 
period  of  twenty-five  years  from  the  date  of 
allotment. 

Of  the  330,000  Indians  in  the  United  States, 
considerably  more  than  half  are  now  allotted, 
and  70,000  hold  patents  in  fee.  The  latest 
report  of  the  Indian  Bureau  gives  the  total 
number  of  Indian  citizens  at  about  75,000. 
Those  still  living  on  communal  land  are  being 
allotted  at  the  rate  of  about  5,000  a  year. 
The  question  of  taxation  of  allotments  has  been 
a  vexed  one.  Some  Indians  have  hesitated  to 
accept  full  citizenship  because  of  fear  of  taxa 
tion;  while  white  men  living  in  the  vicinity  of 
large  Indian  holdings  have  naturally  objected 
to  shouldering  the  entire  burden.  Yet  as  the 
last  census  shows  73  per  cent,  of  all  Indians  as 
taxed  and  counted  toward  the  population  of 
their  Congressional  districts,  it  appears  that 
taxed  or  taxable  Indians  are  not  necessarily 
citizens;  though  they  must  be  considered,  in  the 
words  of  Prof.  F.  A.  McKenzie,  who  compiled 


The  Indian  as  a  Citizen  103 

the  Indian  census,  as  at  least  "potential  citi 
zens." 

The  so-called  "Burke  bill"  (1906)  provides 
that  Indians  allotted  after  that  date  shall  not 
be  declared  citizens  until  after  the  expiration 
of  the  twenty-five-year  trust  period.  This  act 
has  served  no  particular  purpose  except  to  fur 
ther  confuse  the  status  of  the  Indian.  The 
"Carter  code  bill,"  now  pending  in  Congress, 
provides  for  a  commission  of  experts  to  codify 
existing  statutes  and  define  this  status  clearly, 
and  has  been  strongly  endorsed  by  the  Society 
of  American  Indians  and  the  Indian  Rights  As 
sociation.  It  ought  to  be  made  law. 

There  is  a  special  law  under  which  an  Indian 
may  apply  to  be  freed  from  guardianship  by 
proving  his  ability  to  manage  his  own  affairs. 
If  his  application  is  approved  by  the  Interior 
Department,  he  may  then  rent  or  sell  his  prop 
erty  at  will.  About  five  hundred  such  appli 
cations  were  approved  during  the  fiscal  year 
1912-13. 

The  Pueblos  and  a  few  other  Indians  are  or 
may  become  citizens  under  special  treaty  stipu 
lations.  The  5,000  New  York  Indians,  although 
among  those  longest  in  contact  with  civilization, 
yet  because  of  state  treaties  and  the  claims  of 


104  The  Indian  To-day 

the  Ogden  Land  Company,  still  hold  their  lands 
in  common,  and  are  backward  morally  and  so 
cially.  It  is  likely  that  the  United  States  will 
eventually  pay  the  company's  claim  of  $200,000 
to  free  these  people.  A  few  of  them  are  well 
educated  and  have  attained  citizenship  as  in 
dividuals  by  separating  themselves  from  their 
tribe.  Professor  McKenzie,  who  has  deeply 
studied  the  situation  for  years,  proposes  a 
scheme  of  progressive  advance  toward  full 
citizenship,  each  step  to  be  accompanied  by 
decreasing  paternal  control:  as,  for  instance: 
(i)  Tribal  ward;  (2)  Allotted  ward;  (3)  Citizen 
ward;  (4)  Full  citizen. 

INDIANS    AS    POLITICIANS 

In  almost  every  state  there  are  some  Indian  • 
voters,  and  in  South  Dakota  and  Oklahoma  ,/ 
there  are  counties  officered  and  controlled  by 
Indian  citizens.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
the  citizen  Indian  is  no  ignorant  or  indifferent 
voter.  If  he  learns  and  masters  anything  at 
all,  it  is  the  politics  of  his  county  and  state.  It 
is  a  matter  of  long  experience  with  him,  as  he 
has  been  handled  by  politicians  ever  since  he 
entered  the  reservation,  and  there  is  not  a  polit 
ical  trick  that  he  cannot  understand.  He  is  a 


ic; 


The  Indian  as  a  Citizen  105 

ready  student  of  human  nature,  and  usually  a 
correct  observer.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the 
tendency  of  the  new  generation  is  to  be  diplo 
mats  of  a  lower  type,  quick  and  smart,  but  not 
always  sound.  At  present,  like  any  crude  orpar-  *- 
tially  developed  people,  politics  is  their  hobby.  " 

Yet  there  remains  a  sprinkling  of  the  old" 
Indian  type,  which  is  strongly  averse  to  all 
unfair  or  underhanded  methods;  and  there  are 
a  few  of  the  younger  men  who  combine  the  best 
in  both  standards,  and  refuse  to  look  upon  the 
new  civilization  as  a  great,  big  grab-bag.  It  is 
not  strange  that  a  majority  are  influenced  by 
the  prevailing  currents  of  American  life.  Be 
fore  they  understood  the  deeper  underlying 
principles  of  organized  society,  they  had  seen 
what  they  naturally  held  to  be  high  official 
duties  and  responsibilities  ruthlessly  bartered 
and  trafficked  with  before  their  eyes.  They  did 
not  realize  that  this  was  a  period  of  individual 
graft  and  misuse  of  office  for  which  true  civili 
zation  was  not  responsible. 

Among  the  thinking  and  advanced  class  of  *" 
Indians  there  is,  after  all,  no  real  bitterness  ^ 
or  pessimistic  feeling.     It  has  long  been  ap 
parent  to  us  that  absolute  distinctions  cannot  ^ 
be  maintained  under  the  American  flag.     Yet 


106  The  Indian  To-day 

we  think  each  race  should  be  allowed  to  retain 
its  own  religion  and  racial  codes  as  far  as  is 
compatible  with  the  public  good,  and  should 
enter  the  body  politic  of  its  own  free  will,  and 
not  under  compulsion.  This  has  not  been  the 
case  with  the  native  American.  Everything  he 
stood  for  was  labelled  "heathen,"  "savage," 
and  the  devil's  own;  and  he  was  forced  to  accept 
modern  civilization  in  toto  against  his  original 
views  and  wishes.  The  material  in  him  and  the 
method  of  his  reconstruction  have  made  him 
what  he  is.  He  has  defied  all  the  theories  of  the 
ethnologists.  If  any  one  can  show  me  a  fair 
percentage  of  useful  men  and  women  coming 
out  of  the  jail  or  poor-house,  I  will  undertake 
to  show  him  a  larger  percentage  of  useful  citi 
zens  graduating  from  the  pauperizing  and  de 
moralizing  agency  system. 

There  was  no  real  chance  for  the  average  man 
of  my  race  until  the  last  thirty-five  years;  and 
even  during  that  time  he  has  been  under  the 
unholy  rule  of  the  political  boss  and  "little  czar" 
of  the  Indian  agency,  from  whose  control  he  is 
not  even  yet  entirely  free.  You  are  suffering 
from  a  civic  disease,  and  we  are  affected  by  it. 
When  you  are  cured,  and  not  until  then,  we  may 
hope  to  be  thoroughly  well  men. 


The  Indian  as  a  Citizen  107 

INHERITANCE  AND  OTHER  FRAUDS 

Here  is  another  point  of  attack  for  the  men 
who  continually  hover  about  the  Indian  like 
vultures  above  a  sick  or  helpless  man — the  law 
providing  that  the  allotments  of  deceased  In 
dians  may  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  their  legal 
heirs,  even  though  the  time  limit  of  twenty- 
five  years  protected  title  may  not  have  expired. 
I  consider  the  law  a  just  one,  but  the  work  of 
determining  the  heirs  is  complicated  and  diffi 
cult.  It  is  only  last  year  that  Congress  has 
appropriated  $50,000  for  this  purpose,  although 
forty  thousand  inheritance  cases  are  now  pend 
ing,  and  much  fraud  has  already  been  accom 
plished. 

Representative  Burke  has  shown  that  the 
bulk  of  the  minors  and  incompetent  Indians  in 
Oklahoma  have  been  swindled  out  of  their 
property  by  dishonest  administrators  and 
guardians.  Hon.  Warren  K.  Moorehead,  of 
the  United  States  Board  of  Indian  Commis 
sioners,  who  investigated  the  situation  in  that 
state,  intimates  that  as  many  as  21,000  such 
cases  exist  there.  He  says  the  handling  of 
estates  in  Oklahoma  costs  often  from  30  to  90 
per  cent.,  whereas  the  average  rate  in  thirty 


io8  The  Indian  To-day 

states  is  3  per  cent.  "Why  do  not  our  laws 
prevent  the  robbing  of  Indians?  Because  they 
are  not  enforced,"  declares  Mr.  Moorehead, 
who  also  investigated  White  Earth,  Minnesota, 
a  few  years  ago,  and  uncovered  a  scandal  of 
large  proportions,  relating  to  the  theft  of  over 
two  hundred  thousand  acres  of  valuable  land, 
as  a  result  of  suddenly  removing  all  restrictions 
on  the  mixed  bloods  at  that  agency,  many  of 
whom  were  incompetent  to  manage  their  own 
affairs. 

Much  of  this  graft  might  readily  be  stopped, 
and  the  ignorant  Indian  protected,  were  it  not 
for  the  fact  that  the  relationship  between  the 
shysters  and  certain  officials  is  very  much  like 
that  between  the  police  of  New  York  City  and 
the  keepers  of  illegal  resorts.  When  complaint 
is  made,  big  envelopes  with  "U.  S."  printed  in 
the  corner  pass  back  and  forth — and  that  is 
too  often  the  end  of  it!  The  Sioux  call  the 
U.  S.  Indian  inspectors,  who  are  supposed  to 
discover  and  report  abuses,  "Big  Cats";  but 
an  old  chief  once  said  to  me:  "They  ought 
rather  to  be  called  prairie  owls,  who  are  blind 
in  the  daytime  and  have  rattlesnakes  for  their 
bedfellows!" 

At  the  suggestion,  I  believe,  of  Dr.  George 


The  Indian  as  a  Citizen  109 

Bird  Grinnell  and  Hamlin  Garland,  an  attempt 
was  made  under  President  Roosevelt  to  system 
atize  the  Indian  nomenclature.  The  Indian  in 
his  native  state  bears  no  surname;  and  wife 
and  children  figuring  under  entirely  different 
names  from  that  of  the  head  of  the  family,  the 
law  has  been  unnecessarily  embarrassed.  I  re 
ceived  a  special  appointment  to  revise  the 
allotment  rolls  of  the  Sioux  nation.  It  was  my 
duty  to  group  the  various  members  of  one  family 
under  a  permanent  name,  selected  for  its  eu 
phony  and  appropriateness  from  among  the 
various  cognomens  in  use  among  them,  of  course 
suppressing  mistranslations  and  grotesque  or 
coarse  nicknames  calculated  to  embarrass  the 
educated  Indian.  My  instructions  were  that 
the  original  native  name  was  to  be  given  the 
preference,  if  it  were  short  enough  and  easily 
pronounced  by  Americans.  If  not,  a  transla 
tion  or  abbreviation  might  be  used,  while  re 
taining  as  much  as  possible  of  the  distinctive 
racial  flavor.  No  English  surname  might  be 
arbitrarily  given,  but  such  as  were  already  well 
established  might  be  retained  if  the  owner  so 
desired.  Many  such  had  been  unwisely  given 
to  children  by  teachers  and  missionaries,  and 
in  one  family  I  found  a  George  Washington,  a 


no  The  Indian  To-day 

Daniel  Webster,  and  a  Patrick  Henry !  The  task 
was  quite  complicated  and  there  were  many 
doubts  and  suspicions  to  overcome,  as  some 
feared  lest  it  should  be  another  trick  to  change 
the  Indian's  name  after  he  had  been  allotted, 
and  so  defraud  him  safely.  During  the  seven 
years  spent  in  this  work,  I  came  upon  many 
cases  of  inheritance  frauds.  In  the  face  of 
what  appear  to  be  iron-clad  rules  and  endless  red 
tape,  it  is  a  problem  how  these  things  can  happen 
without  the  knowledge  of  responsible  officials ! 

THE     INDIAN    AS     HIS     OWN    ATTORNEY 

Some  years  since  an  interesting  case  came  up 
at  Standing  Rock  Agency,  N.  D.,  which  illus 
trates  the  ability  of  the  modern  Indian  to 
manage  his  own  affairs  when  he  is  permitted 
to  do  so.  It  was  proposed  to  lease  nearly 
the  whole  reservation,  the  occupied  as  well  as 
the  unoccupied  portion,  to  two  cattle  companies, 
but  in  order  to  be  legal,  the  consent  of  the  In 
dians  was  necessary.  An  effort  was  made  to 
secure  their  signatures,  and  interested  parties  had 
nearly  the  requisite  two  thirds  of  them  fooled, 
when  a  mixed  blood  by  the  name  of  Louis 
Primeau  learned  of  the  game,  and  brought  it 
to  the  attention  of  the  people. 


The  Indian  as  a  Citizen  in 

They  made  a  strong  and  intelligent  resistance, 
asked  for  a  hearing  in  Washington  and  sent  on 
a  delegation  to  present  their  case.  Immediately 
the  agent  got  up  a  rival  delegation  of  "good 
Indians/*  fed  and  clothed  for  the  occasion,  to 
contradict  the  first  and  declare  that  the  people 
were  willing  to  sign,  all  save  the  "kickers  and 
trouble-makers. " 

My  brother,  the  Rev.  John  Eastman,  and  I 
were  in  Washington  at  the  time.  The  Indian 
delegation  who  protested  against  the  leases  was 
given  no  show  at  all  before  the  Department, 
because  it  appeared  that  influential  Western 
Senators  were  upholding  the  interests  of  the 
cattle  companies.  Primeau  came  to  my  brother 
for  help;  and  we  finally  secured  a  hearing  before 
the  Senate  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs. 

It  happened  to  be  a  Democratic  Senate, 
although  a  Republican  President  was  in  office; 
and  the  head  of  that  committee  was  Senator 
Stewart  of  Nevada.  Before  him  the  braves 
fought  their  unequal  battle  to  a  finish.  They 
had  their  credentials  and  the  minutes  of  the 
meeting  at  which  they  had  been  elected,  and 
they  stated  clearly  their  people's  reasons  for 
opposing  the  leases — reasons  which  were  sound 
on  the  face  of  them.  They  also  declared  that 


H2  The  Indian  To-day 

the  Indian  Commissioner  had  sent  a  telegram 
to  their  agent  saying  that  if  they  would  not  sign 
they  would  be  ignored  by  the  Department,  and 
the  leases  approved  without  their  consent, 
although  such  consent  was  required  both  by 
treaty  and  statute. 

It  was  immediately  denied  by  the  other  side 
that  any  such  telegram  had  been  sent,  upon 
which  the  wily  Sioux  played  their  trump  card: 
they  produced  a  certified  copy  of  the  dispatch 
which  they  had  obtained  from  the  operator, 
and  publicly  handed  this  piece  of  evidence  to 
Senator  Stewart. 

The  Indians  also  consulted  Judge  Springer 
of  Illinois,  who,  after  reviewing  their  case,  said 
that  they  could  serve  an  injunction  on  both  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  Commissioner,  in 
the  District  of  Columbia.  This  they  did.  The 
officials  asked  for  thirty  days;  and  the  Com 
missioner  of  Indian  Affairs  personally  hastened 
to  Standing  Rock,  where  he  gave  the  red  men  a 
good  scolding  for  their  audacity,  at  the  same 
time  telling  them  that  no  lease  had  been  made, 
or  would  be  made. 

President  Roosevelt  then  sent  Dr.  Grinnell,  a 
well-known  friend  of  the  Indian,  to  make  an 
independent  investigation.  Dr.  Grinnell  re- 


The  Indian  as  a  Citizen  113 

ported  that  the  Walker  lease  was  entirely  op 
posed  to  the  Indians'  interests,  and  that  it  would 
not  only  be  unwise,  but  wrong,  to  approve  it. 
The  Lemmon  lease  of  the  unoccupied  portion  of 
the  reservation  was  afterward  executed  with  the 
Indians'  consent. 

There  are  innumerable  such  instances,  but 
this  one  is  worthy  of  mention  because  of  the 
spirit  and  success  with  which  the  Indians  con 
ducted  their  own  case.  Very  often  their  prop 
erty  is  dissipated  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
there  are  men  among  them  who  fully  grasp  the 
situation.  These  men  protest,  but  it  is  of  no 
use.  They  are  denounced  as  "insubordinate," 
"disturbers  of  the  peace,"  and  worthless  pre 
varicators.  Here  is  where  national  honor  and 
the  rights  of  a  dependent  people  are  sacrificed 
to  the  politicians.  When  we  consider  that  the 
Indian  still  owns  more  than  70,000,000  acres 
of  land,  and  trust  funds  stated  at  $48,000,000, 
the  proceeds  of  ceded  territory,  it  may  be  seen 
that  this  immense  estate  largely  in  the  hands 
of  "wards"  and  illiterate  persons  presents  a  very 
serious  problem. 

It  has  come  to  be  more  and  more  the  case 
that  the  Indian,  so  long  and  so  oppressively 
paternalized,  is  allowed  to  take  a  hand  in  his 


H4  The  Indian  To-day 

own  development.  This  is  as  it  should  be. 
Many  theories  have  been  advanced  concerning 
him;  but  I  think  we  all  agree  that  he  has  out 
grown  the  present  method,  which  now  seems 
to  retard  his  progress.  Yet  the  old  machinery 
continues  to  exist  in  cumbersome  and  more  or 
less  inefficient  form.  It  is  a  question  whether 
it  really  does  much  more  good  than  harm; 
but  it  seems  clear  that  some  of  the  tribes  still 
need  intelligent  and  honest  guardianship.  To 
my  mind,  this  machinery  might  be  adjusted 
more  nearly  to  the  requirements  of  the  present- 
day  Indian. 

Professor  Moorehead  has  suggested  the  plan 
of  putting  the  Indian  Bureau  under  a  commis 
sion  of  several  men,  to  be  appointed  for  long 
terms  or  for  life,  free  of  political  considerations. 
I  can  scarcely  conceive  of  wholly  non-partisan 
appointments  in  this  age,  but  length  of  service 
would  be  a  great  advantage,  and  it  does  seem 
to  me  this  experiment  would  be  worth  trying. 
Such  a  commission  should  have  full  authority 
to  deal  with  all  Indian  matters  without  reference 
to  any  other  department.  I  would  add  that 
one  half  of  its  members  might  well  be  of  Indian 
blood. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   INDIAN   IN   COLLEGE  AND  THE 
PROFESSIONS 

IT  is  the  impression  of  many  people  who  are 
not  well  informed  on  the  Indian  situation  that 
book  education  is  of  little  value  to  the  race, 
particularly  what  is  known  as  the  higher  educa 
tion.  The  contrary  is  true.  What  we  need  is 
not  less  education,  but  more;  more  trained 
leaders  to  uphold  the  standards  of  civilization 
before  both  races.  Among  Indian  college  and 
university  graduates  a  failure  is  very  rare;  I  am 
sure  I  have  not  met  one,  and  really  do  not  know 
of  one. 

The  press  is  responsible  for  many  popular 
errors.  Whenever  an  Indian  indulges  in  any 
notorious  misbehavior,  he  is  widely  heralded 
as  a  "Carlisle  graduate,"  although  as  a  matter 
of  fact  he  may  never  have  attended  that  famous 
school,  or  have  been  there  for  a  short  time  only. 
Obviously  the  statement  is  intended  to  dis- 


n6  The  Indian  To-day 

credit  the  educated  Indian.  But  Carlisle  is 
not  a  college  or  university,  although,  because  of 
the  wonderful  athletic  prowess  of  its  students, 
they  have  met  and  defeated  the  athletes  of 
many  a  white  university  on  the  football  field. 
Its  curriculum  is  considerably  below  that  of 
the  ordinary  high  school;  it  is  a  practical  or 
vocational  school,  giving  a  fair  knowledge  of 
some  trade  together  with  the  essentials  of  an 
English  education,  but  no  Latin  or  other  foreign 
language.  Consequently  its  graduates  must 
attend  a  higher  preparatory  school  for  several 
years  before  they  can  enter  college. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  the  college-educated 
men  and  women  of  my  race  have  accomplished 
quite  a  feat,  considering  their  antecedents  and 
wholly  foreign  point  of  view.  They  have  had 
to  adjust  themselves  to  a  new  way  of  thinking, 
as  well  as  a  new  language,  before  they  could 
master  such  abstract  ideas  and  problems  as 
are  presented  by  mathematics  and  the  sciences. 
Their  own  schools  graduate  them  at  a  mature 
age  and  do  not  prepare  them  for  college.  Fur 
thermore,  they  are  almost  always  hampered 
by  lack  of  means.  Nevertheless,  an  increas 
ing  number  have  succeeded  in  the  undertak 
ing. 


The  Indian  in  College  117 

TRIALS    OF   THE    EDUCATED   INDIAN 

I  wish  to  contradict  the  popular  misconcep 
tion  that  an  educated  Indian  will  necessarily 
meet  with  strong  prejudice  among  his  own  peo 
ple,  or  will  be  educated  out  of  sympathy  with 
them.  From  their  point  of  view,  a  particu 
larly  able  or  well-equipped  man  of  their  race 
is  a  public  blessing,  and  all  but  public  property. 
That  was  the  old  rule  among  us.  Up  to  a 
very  recent  period  an  educated  Indian  could  not 
succeed  materially;  he  could  not  better  himself, 
because  the  people  required  him  to  give  unlim 
ited  free  service,  according  to  the  old  regime. 
I  have  even  known  one  to  be  killed  by  the  con 
tinual  demands  upon  him. 

There  was  a  time  (not  so  long  ago,  either) 
when  the  educated  Indian  stood  in  a  very  un 
comfortable  position  between  his  people  and 
the  Government  officials  and  shady  politicians. 
Every  complaint  was  brought  to  him,  as  a  mat 
ter  of  course;  and  he  was  expected  to  expose 
and  redress  every  wrong.  As  I  have  said  else 
where,  such  efforts  are  generally  useless,  and 
resulted  only  in  damage  to  his  financial  position 
and  his  reputation.  No  doubt  he  often  in 
vited  attacks  upon  himself  by  a  rashness  born 


n8  The  Indian  To-day 

of  his  ardent  sympathy  for  his  fellow-tribesmen. 
In  this  matter  I  speak  from  personal  experience 
as  well  as  long  observation. 

Even  in  the  old,  wild  days,  an  education  was 
appreciated  by  the  Indians;  but  it  was  a  hard 
life  for  the  educated  man.  They  made  him 
carry  too  heavy  a  burden,  without  much  recom- 
\  pense  save  honor  and  respect.  But  we  have 
pretty  well  passed  through  that  period,  and  the 
native  graduates  of  our  higher  institutions  have 
begun  to  show  their  strength  and  enlarge  their 
views.  They  have  not  only  done  well  for  them 
selves  and  their  race,  but  they  stand  before  the 
world  as  living  illustrations  of  its  capacity,  dis 
proving  many  theories  concerning  untutored 
races. 


NO  "INFERIOR  RACE" 


It  was  declared  without  qualification  by  the 
Universal  Races  Congress  at  London  in  1911 
that  there  is  no  inherently  superior  race,  there- 
fore  no  inferior  race.  From  every  race  some 
individuals  have  mastered  the  same  curriculum 
and  passed  the  same  tests,  and  in  some  in- 
^ stances  members  of  so-called  "uncivilized" 
races  have  stood  higher  than  the  average 
"civilized"  student;  therefore  they  have  the 


The  Indian  in  College  119 

same  inherent  ability.  Certain  peoples  have 
remained  undeveloped  because  of  their  religion, 
philosophy,  and  form  of  government;  in  other 
words,  because  of  the  racial  environment. 
Change  the  environment,  and  the  race  is  trans 
formed.  Certainly  the  American  Indian  has 
clearly  demonstrated  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 

The  very  mention  of  the  name  "Indian"  in 
earlier  days  would  make  the  average  white  man's 
blood  creep  with  thoughts  of  the  war-whoop 
and  the  scalping-knife.  A  little  later  it  sug 
gested  chiefly  feathers  and  paint  and  "Buffalo 
Bill's  Wild  West."  To-day  the  association  is 
rather  with  the  Carlisle  school  and  its  famous 
athletes;  but  to  the  thinking  mind  the  name 
suggests  deeper  thoughts  and  higher  possibili 
ties. 

It  was  no  less  a  man  than  Theodore  Roosevelt 
who  said  to  me  once  in  the  White  House  that 
he  would  give  anything  to  have  a  drop  of  Sioux 
or  Cheyenne  blood  in  his  veins.  It  is  a  fact 
that  the  intelligent  and  educated  Indian  has  no 
social  prejudice  to  contend  with.  His  color 
is  not  counted  against  him.  He  is  received  cor 
dially  and  upon  equal  terms  in  school,  college, 
and  society. 

Dr.   Booker  Washington  is  in  the  habit  of 


I2O  The  Indian  To-day 

saying   jocosely   that   the   negro    blood    is   the 
strongest  in  the  world,  for  one  drop  of  it  makes  a 
"nigger"  of  a  white  man.     I  would  argue  that1 
the  Indian  blood  is  even  stronger,  for  a  half- 
blood  negro  and  Indian  may  pass  for  an  Indian, 
and  so  be  admitted  to  first-class  hotels  and  eveni/ 
to  high  society.     All  that  an  Indian  needs  in 
order  to  be  popular,  and  indeed  to  be  lionized  V 
if  he  so  desires,  is  to  get  an  education  and  hold 
up  his  head  as  a  member  of  the  oldest  American  v> 
aristocracy.     Many    of  our  leading  men  have 
married   into  excellent  families  and  are  promi 
nent  in  cultivated  white  communities.     We  want 
the  best  in  two  races  and  civilizations  in  ex-y 
change  for  what  we  have  lost. 

Some  of  us  have  entered  upon  every  known 
professional  career,  such  as  medicine,  law,  the 
ministry,   education   and   the   sciences,   politics 
and  higher  business  management,  art  and  litera 
ture.     It  may  be  well  to  mention  some  of  our  V 
best-known  professional  men  and  women.     The 
doctors  seem  to  have  been  the  first  to  enter 
the  general  field  in  competition  with  their  whiter 
colleagues:  at  first,  to  be  sure,  as  "Indian  herb 
doctors,"  or  quacks  of  one  sort  or  another,  but 
later  as  competent  graduated  physicians.     The  v 
Government  has  utilized  several  in  the  Indian 


The  Indian  in  College  121 

service,  and  others  have  established  themselves 
in  private  practice. 

SOME   NOTED   INDIANS   OF  TO-DAY 

Perhaps  the  foremost  of  these  is  Dr.  Carlos 
Montezuma  of  Chicago,  a  full-blooded  Apache, 
who  was  purchased  for  a  few  steers  while  in 
captivity  to  the  Pimas,  who  were  enemies  of 
his  people.  He  was  brought  to  Chicago  by  the 
man  who  ransomed  him,  a  reporter  and  photog 
rapher,  and  when  his  benefactor  died,  the  boy 
became  the  protege  of  the  Chicago  Press  Club. 
A  large  portrait  of  him  adorns  the  parlor  of  the 
club,  showing  him  as  the  naked  Indian  captive 
of  about  four  years  old. 

He  went  to  the  public  school,  then  to  Cham 
paign  University,  Illinois,  and  from  there  to  the 
Northwestern  University,  where  he  was  grad 
uated  from  the  medical  department.  All  this 
time,  although  receiving  some  aid  from  various 
sources,  he  largely  supported  himself.  After 
graduation  Dr.  Montezuma  was  sent  by  the 
Government  as  physician  to  an  Indian  agency 
in  Montana,  and  later  transferred  to  the  Carlisle 
school.  In  a  few  years  he  returned  to  Chicago 
and  opened  an  office.  He  has  been  a  prominent 
physician  there  for  a  number  of  years,  and  was 


122  The  Indian  To-day 

recently  married  to  a  lady  of  German  descent. 
He  stands  uncompromisingly  for  the  total 
abolition  of  the  reservation  system  and  of  the 
Indian  Bureau,  holding  that  the  red  man  must 
be  allowed  to  work  out  his  own  salvation. 

One  of  the  earliest  practitioners  of  our  race 
was  Dr.  Susan  La  Flesche  Picotte  of  the  Omaha 
tribe.  Having  prepared  at  Hampton  Institute 
and  elsewhere,  she  entered  the  Philadelphia 
Medical  College  for  Women.  When  she  had 
finished,  she  returned  to  her  tribe,  and  was  for 
some  time  in  the  Government  service.  She 
has  since  taken  up  private  practice  and  also 
had  charge  of  a  mission  hospital.  Dr.  Pi 
cotte  is  a  sister  of  Bright  Eyes  (Susette  La 
Flesche)  and  also  of  Francis  La  Flesche  of  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.  There  is  another  Indian  doctor, 
not  of  full  blood,  who  is  president  of  the  City 
Club  of  Chicago  and  active  in  civic  reform. 
In  several  Middle  Western  cities  there  are  success 
ful  doctors  and  dentists  of  my  race. 

In  the  profession  of  law  we  have  none  of 
full  blood  whose  fame  is  national.  Judge 
Hiram  Chase  of  the  Omahas  and  others  have 
won  local  distinction.  The  Hon.  Charles  Curtis, 
Senator  from  Kansas,  was  a  successful  lawyer 
in  Topeka  when  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of 


The  Indian  in  College  123 

Representatives,  and  later  to  the  United  States 
Senate.  His  mother  is  a  Kaw  Indian.  Mr. 
Curtis  was  and  is  a  leader  of  the  Republican 
party  in  his  state.  Senator  Owen  of  Oklahoma 
is  part  Cherokee.  The  whole  country  has  come 
to  realize  his  ability  and  influence.  Represent 
ative  Carter  of  Oklahoma  is  also  an  Indian. 

During  my  student  days  in  New  Hampshire 
I  was  often  told  that  Daniel  Webster  was  part 
Indian  on  his  mother's  side.  Certainly  his 
physiognomy  as  well  as  his  unequalled  logic 
corroborated  the  story.  We  all  know  that 
governors  and  other  men  of  mark  have  pro 
claimed  themselves  descendants  of  Pocahontas; 
I  have  met  several  in  the  West  and  South.  I 
know  that  the  late  Senators  Quay  of  Pennsyl 
vania  and  Morgan  of  Alabama  had  some  Indian 
blood,  for  they  themselves  told  me  so;  and  I 
have  been  told  the  same  of  Senators  Clapp  and 
La  Follette,  but  have  never  verified  it.  Their 
wonderful  aggressiveness  and  dauntless  public 
service  in  my  mind  point  to  native  descent,  and 
if  they  can  truthfully  claim  it  I  feel  sure  that 
they  will  be  proud  to  do  so.  They  must  know 
that  many  distinguished  army  officers  as  well 
as  traders  and  explorers  left  sons  and  daughters 
among  the  American  tribes,  especially  during 


124  The  Indian  To-day 

the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  As 
late  as  1876  Dr.  Washington  Mathews,  a  surgeon 
in  the  United  States  Army,  brought  down  on 
a  Missouri  River  steamboat  a  Gros  Ventre  son, 
and  left  him  with  the  missionary  teacher,  Dr. 
Alfred  L.  Riggs,  to  rear  and  educate.  This 
military  surgeon  and  scientist  not  only  attained 
the  rank  of  major-general,  but  he  became  one 
of  our  foremost  archaeologists.  The  boy  was 
called  Berthold,  from  the  place  of  his  birth. 
He  was  afterward  sent  to  Yankton  College,  but 
I  do  not  know  what  became  of  him.  As  for 
those  brilliant  men,  so  many  in  number,  who 
have  the  blood  of  both  races  in  their  veins,  I 
will  not  pretend  to  claim  for  the  Indian  all  the 
credit  of  their  talents  and  energy. 

In  the  ministry  we  have  many  able  and  de 
voted  men — more  than  in  any  other  profession. 
The  Presbyterian  Church  alone  has  thirty- 
eight  and  the  Episcopal  Church  about  twenty, 
with  a  less  number  in  several  other  denomina 
tions,  and  two  Roman  Catholic  priests.  Most 
of  these  labor  among  their  own  people,  though 
the  Rev.  Frank  Wright,  a  Choctaw,  is  well 
known  as  an  evangelistic  preacher  and  singer. 

One  of  our  best-known  clergymen  is  Rev. 
Sherman  Coolidge,  a  full-blood  Arapahoe.  He 


The  Indian  in  College  125 

has  had  an  unusual  career,  having  been  taken 
prisoner  as  a  boy  by  an  officer  of  the  army. 
He  was  sent  to  school  and  eventually  gradu 
ated  from  Bishop  Whipple's  Seabury  Divinity 
School  at  Faribault,  Minn.  Since  that  time 
Doctor  Coolidge  has  devoted  himself  to  the 
Christianization  of  his  race.  He  is  the  president 
of  our  recently  organized  Society  of  American 
Indians. 

Bishop  Whipple  developed  many  able  preach 
ers,  of  whom  perhaps  the  most  accomplished 
was  the  Rev.  Charles  Smith  Cook,  of  the  Yank- 
ton  Sioux.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Sioux  woman 
and  a  military  officer.  Mr.  Cook  was  gradu 
ated  from  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  and  later 
from  Seabury  Divinity  School.  He  had  unusual 
eloquence  and  personal  charm,  and  became  at 
once  one  of  Bishop  Hare's  ablest  helpers  in  his 
great  work  among  the  Sioux.  Stationed  at 
Pine  Ridge  at  the  time  of  the  Wounded  Knee 
massacre,  he  opened  his  church  to  the  wounded 
Indian  prisoners  as  an  emergency  hospital. 
His  much  regretted  death  occurred  a  few  months 
later.  He  was  a  tireless  worker  and  much  loved 
by  his  people. 

One  of  our  promising  young  ministers  is  the 
Rev.  Henry  Roe  Cloud,  a  Winnebago,  graduated 


126  The  Indian  To-day 

from  Yale  and  Oberlin.  Stephen  Jones,  a  Sioux, 
who  was  graduated  from  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  train 
ing-school  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  has  done  good 
work  as  field  secretary  among  the  Indians  for  a 
number  of  years.  I  should  add  that  there  are 
many  ministers  of  my  race  who  have  no  college 
degree  nor  much  education  in  the  English  lan 
guage,  yet  who  are  among  our  most  able  and 
influential  leaders.  My  own  brother,  Rev.  John 
Eastman,  who  passed  but  a  short  time  in  school, 
has  not  only  been  a  successful  preacher  among 
the  Sioux  but  for  many  years  their  trusted 
adviser  and  representative  to  look  after  their 
interests  at  the  national  capital. 

A  few  men  and  many  women  have  succeeded 
in  the  teaching  profession,  most  of  them  in  the 
United  States  Indian  Service.  It  is  the  express 
policy  of  the  Government  to  use  the  educated 
Indians,  whenever  possible,  in  promoting  the 
advancement  of  their  race;  indeed  some  of  the 
treaties  include  this  stipulation.  Therefore  pref 
erence  is  given  them  by  the  Indian  Bureau, 
and  although  they  must  pass  a  civil-service 
examination  to  prove  their  fitness,  such  exami 
nation,  in  their  case,  is  non-competitive.  They 
have  been  prepared  in  the  larger  Government 
schools,  in  many  instances  with  the  addition  of 


The  Indian  in  College  127 

normal  and  college  courses.  At  least  two  are 
superintendents  of  schools.  A  number  of  young 
women,  Carlisle  graduates,  have  taken  up 
trained  nursing  as  a  profession,  and  are  prac 
tising  successfully  both  among  whites  and  In 
dians. 

In  the  sciences,  especially  in  ethnology  and 
archaeology,  we  have  several  who  have  rendered 
material  service.  William  Jones,  a  Sac  and 
Fox  quarter  blood,  was  a  graduate  of  Hampton 
and  of  Harvard  University.  He  took  post 
graduate  work  at  Columbia,  and  was  a  pupil 
of  those  distinguished  scientists,  Dr.  Putnam 
and  Dr.  Boas.  The  latter  has  called  him  one  of 
our  ablest  archaeologists.  Dr.  Jones  travelled 
among  the  various  tribes,  even  to  the  coast  of 
Labrador,  and  labored  assiduously  in  the  cause 
of  science  for  Harvard  and  the  Marshall  Field 
Museum  of  Chicago,  as  well  as  other  institutions. 
It  was  the  Chicago  Museum  which  sent  him  to 
the  Philippine  Islands,  where  he  was  murdered 
by  the  natives  a  few  years  ago. 

We  have  also  such  men  as  Professor  Hewitt 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  Francis  La 
Flesche  of  the  same,  and  Arthur  C.  Parker  of 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  who  is  state  archaeologist. 

In  literature  several  writers  of  Indian  blood 


128  The  Indian  To-day 

have  appeared  during  the  past  few  years,  and 
have  won  a  measure  of  recognition.  Francis 
La  Flesche,  an  Omaha,  has  collaborated  with 
Miss  Alice  C.  Fetcher  in  ethnological  work, 
and  is  also  the  author  of  a  pleasing  story  of  life 
in  an  Indian  school  called  "The  Middle  Five." 
Zitkalasa,  a  Sioux  (now  Mrs.  Bonney),  attended 
a  Western  college,  where  she  distinguished  her 
self  in  an  intercollegiate  oratorical  contest. 
Soon  afterward  she  appeared  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  as  the  writer  of  several  papers  of  an 
autobiographical  nature,  which  attracted  favor 
able  attention,  and  were  followed  by  a  little 
volume  of  Indian  legends  and  several  short 
stories.  Mrs.  Bonney  has  more  recently  written 
the  book  of  an  Indian  opera  called  "The  Sun 
Dance,"  which  has  been  produced  in  Salt  Lake 
City  by  university  students.  John  Oskinson,  a 
Cherokee,  was  first  heard  of  as  the  winner  in  an 
intercollegiate  literary  contest,  and  he  is  now 
on  the  staff  of  Collier's  Weekly.  The  Five  Civ 
ilized  Nations  of  Oklahoma  can  show  many 
other  writers  and  journalists. 

In  higher  business  lines  a  number  have  shown 
special  ability.  General  Pleasant  Porter,  who 
died  recently,  was  president  of  a  short  railroad 
line  in  Oklahoma;  Mr.  Hill,  of  Texas,  is  reputed 


The  Indian  in  College  129 

to  be  a  millionaire;  Howard  Gansworth,  a  grad 
uate  of  Carlisle  and  Princeton,  is  a  successful 
business  man  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.;  and  many  of 
more  or  less  Indian  blood  have  gone  forth  into 
the  world  to  do  business  on  a  large  scale. 

In  the  athletic  world  this  little  race  has  no 
peer,  as  is  sufficiently  proven  by  their  remarka 
ble  record  in  football,  baseball,  and  track  athletics. 
A  few  years  ago  I  asked  that  good  friend  of 
the  Indian,  Gen.  R.  H.  Pratt,  why  he  did  not 
introduce  football  in  his  school.  "Why,"  said 
he,  "if  I  did  that,  half  the  press  of  the  country 
would  attack  me  for  developing  the  original 
war  instincts  and  savagery  of  the  Indian!  The 
public  would  be  afraid  to  come  to  our  games!" 

"Major,"  I  said,  "that  is  exactly  why  I 
want  you  to  do  it.  We  will  prove  that  the 
Indian  is  a  gentleman  and  a  sportsman;  he  will 
not  complain;  he  will  do  nothing  unfair  or  under 
hand;  he  will  play  the  game  according  to  the 
rules,  and  will  not  swear — at  least  not  in  public!" 

Not  long  afterward  the  game  was  introduced 
at  Carlisle,  and  I  was  asked  by  the  General  to 
visit  Montana  and  the  Dakotas  to  secure  pupils 
for  the  school,  and,  incidentally,  recruits  for 
his  football  warriors.  The  Indians'  victory  was 
complete.  These  boys  always  fight  the  battle 


130  The  Indian  To-day 

on  its  own  merits;  they  play  a  clean  game,  and 
lose  very  few  games  during  the  season,  although 
they  meet  all  our  leading  universities,  each  on 
its  own  home  grounds. 

From  the  fleet  Deerfoot  to  this  day  we  boast 
the  noted  names  of  Longboat,  Sockalexis,  Bemus 
Pierce,  Frank  Hudson,  Tewanima,  Metoxen, 
Myers,  Bender,  and  Jim  Thorpe.  Thorpe  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Carlisle  school,  and  at  the 
Olympic  Games  in  Sweden  in  1912  he  won  the 
title  of  the  greatest  all-round  athlete  in  the  world 

PROBLEMS  OF  RACE  LEADERSHIP 

I  have  been  asked  why  my  race  has  not  pro 
duced  a  Booker  Washington.     There  are  many 
^difficulties  in  the  way  of  efficient  race  leadership; 
,one  of  them  is  the  large  number  of  different 
r  Indian    tribes    with    their    distinct    languages, 
^  habits,    and    traditions,    and    with    old    tribal 
^  jealousies  and  antagonisms  yet  to  be  overcome. 
Another,  and  a  more  serious  obstacle,  is  the  de 
pendent  position  of  the  Indian,  and  the  almost 
arbitrary   power   in   the   hands   of  the   Indian 
Bureau. 

About  fifteen  years  ago  the  idea  of  a  national 
organization  of  progressive  Indians  was  dis 
cussed  at  some  length  by  Rev.  Sherman  Cool- 


The  Indian  in  College  131 

idge,  my  brother,  John  Eastman,  and  myself. 
At  that  time  we  concluded  that  the  movement 
would  not  be  understood  either  by  our  own  race 
or  the  American  people  in  general,  and  that 
there  was  grave  danger  of  arousing  the  antagon 
ism  of  the  Bureau.  If  such  a  society  were 
formed,  it  would  necessarily  take  many  problems 
of  the  race  under  consideration,  and  the  officials 
at  Washington  and  in  the  field  are  sensitive 
to  criticism,  nor  are  they  accustomed  to  allowing 
the  Indian  a  voice  in  his  own  affairs.  Further 
more,  many  of  the  most  progressive  red  men  are 
enlisted  in  the  Government  service,  which  would 
make  their  position  a  very  difficult  one  in  case 
of  any  friction  with  the  authorities.  Very  few 
Indians  are  sufficiently  independent  of  the 
Bureau  to  speak  and  act  with  absolute  freedom. 
Some  ten  years  later  I  was  called  to  Columbus, 
Ohio,  to  lecture  for  the  Ohio  State  University 
on  the  same  course  with  Dri  Coolidge  and  Dr. 
Montezuma.  Prof.  F.  A.  McKenzie  of  the 
university  arranged  the  course,  and  soon  after 
ward  he  wrote  me  that  he  believed  the  time  was 
now  ripe  to  organize  our  society.  We  corres 
ponded  with  leading  Indians  and  arranged  a 
meeting  at  Columbus  for  the  following  April. 
At  this  meeting  five  were  present  besides  myself: 


132  The  Indian  To-day 

Dr.  Montezuma,  Thomas  Sloan,  Charles  E. 
Dagenett,  Henry  Standingbear,  and  Miss  Laura 
Cornelius.  We  organized  as  a  committee,  and 
issued  a  general  call  for  a  conference  in  October 
at  the  university,  upon  the  cordial  invitation 
of  Dr.  McKenzie  and  President  Thompson. 

Four  annual  conferences  have  now  been  held, 
and  the  fifth  is  announced  for  next  October  at 
Oklahoma  City.  The  society  has  500  active  and 
about  the  same  number  of  associate  members; 
the  latter  are  white  friends  of  the  race  who  are  in 
sympathy  with  our  objects.  Our  first  president 
is  Rev.  Sherman  Coolidge,  and  Arthur  C.  Par 
ker  is  secretary  and  treasurer.  The  Society  of 
American  Indians  issues  a  quarterly  journal 
devoted  to  the  proceedings  of  the  conferences 
and  the  interests  of  the  Indian  race.  At  these 
meetings  and  in  this  journal  various  phases  of 
our  situation  have  been  intelligently  and  cou 
rageously  discussed,  and  certain  remedies  have 
been  suggested  for  the  evils  brought  to  light. 
These  debates  should  at  least  open  the  public  ear. 

Of  course  the  obstacles  to  complete  success 
that  I  have  referred  to  still  exist,  and  there  are 
others  as  well.  Our  people  have  not  been  trained 
to  work  together  harmoniously.  It  is  a  serious 
question  what  principles  we  should  stand  for 


The  Indian  in  College  133 

and  what  line  of  work  we  ought  to  undertake. 
Should  we  devote  ourselves  largely  to  exposing 
the  numerous  frauds  committed  upon  Indians? 
Or  should  we  keep  clear  of  these  matters,  avoid 
discussion  of  official  methods  and  action,  and 
simply  aim  at  arousing  racial  pride  and  ambition 
along  new  lines,  holding  up  a  modern  ideal  for 
the  support  and  encouragement  of  our  youth? 
Should  we  petition  Congress  and  in  general  con 
tinue  along  the  lines  of  the  older  Indian  associa 
tions?  Or  should  we  rather  do  intensive  work 
among  our  people,  looking  especially  toward  their 
moral  and  social  welfare? 

I  stand  for  the  latter  plan.  Others  think 
differently;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  Washing 
ton  office  has  been  opened  and  much  attention 
paid  to  governmental  affairs.  It  is  a  large  task. 
The  declared  objects  of  the  society,  in  almost 
the  words  originally  chosen  by  its  six  founders, 
are  as  follows: 

OBJECTS   OF  THE    SOCIETY  OF  AMERICAN  INDIANS 

First.  To  promote  and  cooperate  with  all 
efforts  looking  to  the  advancement  of  the  Indian 
in  enlightenment  which  leave  him  free,  as  a 
man,  to  develop  according  to  the  natural  laws 
of  social  evolution. 


134  The  Indian  To-day 

Second.  To  provide  through  our  open  con 
ferences  the  means  for  a  free  discussion  on  all 
subjects  bearing  on  the  welfare  of  the  race. 

Third.  To  present  in  a  just  light  the  true 
history  of  the  race,  to  preserve  its  records  and 
emulate  its  distinguishing  virtues. 

Fourth.  To  promote  citizenship  and  to  ob 
tain  the  rights  thereof. 

Fifth.  To  establish  a  legal  department  to 
investigate  Indian  problems  and  to  suggest  and 
to  obtain  remedies. 

Sixth.  To  exercise  the  right  to  oppose  any 
movement  that  may  be  detrimental  to  the  race. 

Seventh.  To  direct  its  energies  exclusively 
to  general  principles  and  universal  interests, 
and  not  allow  itself  to  be  used  for  any  personal 
or  private  interest.  The  honor  of  the  race  and 
the  good  of  the  country  shall  be  paramount. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  INDIAN'S  HEALTH  PROBLEM 

THE  physical  decline  and  alarming  death-rate  of 
the  American  Indian  of  to-day  is  perhaps  the 
most  serious  and  urgent  of  the  many  problems 
that  confront  him  at  the  present  time.  The 
death-rate  is  stated  by  Government  officials 
at  about  thirty  per  thousand  of  the  population 
— double  the  average  rate  among  white  Ameri 
cans.  From  the  same  source  we  learn  that 
about  70,000  Indians  in  the  United  States  are 
suffering  from  trachoma,  a  serious  and  contag 
ious  eye  disease,  and  probably  30,000  have 
tuberculosis  in  some  form.  The  death-rate  from 
tuberculosis  is  almost  three  times  that  among 
the  whites. 

These  are  grave  facts,  and  cause  deep  anxiety 
to  the  intelligent  Indian  and  to  /the  friends  of 
the  race.  Some  hold  pessimistic^  views  looking 
to  its  early  extinction;  but  these  are  not  war 
ranted  by  the  outlook,  for  in  spite  of  the  con- 

135 


136  The  Indian  To-day 

ditions  named,  the  last  three  census  show  a 
slight  but  continuous  increase  in  the  total  num 
ber  of  Indians.  Nor  is  this  increase  among 
mixed-bloods  alone;  the  full-blooded  Indians 
are  also  increasing  in  numbers.  This  indicates 
that  the  race  has  reached  and  passed  the  lowest 
point  of  its  decline,  and  is  beginning  slowly  but 
surely  to  recuperate. 

THE  CHANGE  TO  RESERVATION  LIFE 

The  health  situation  on  the  reservations  wras 
undoubtedly  even  worse  twenty  years  ago  than 
it  is  to-day,  but  at  that  period  little  was  heard 
and  still  less  done  about  it.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  wild  Indian  had  to  undergo  tremendous 
and  abrupt  changes  in  his  mode  df  living.  He 
suffered  severely  from  an  indoor  and  sedentary 
life,  too  much  artificial  heat,  too  much  clothing, 
impure  air,  limited  space,  indigestible  food — in 
digestible  because  he  did  not  know  how  to  pre 
pare  it,  and  in  itself  poor  food  for  him.  He  was 
compelled  often  to  eat  diseased  cattle,  mouldy 
flour,  rancid  bacon,  with  which  he  drank  large 
quantities  of  strong  coffee.  In  a  word,  he  lived 
a  squalid  life,  unclean  and  apathetic  physically, 
mentally,  and  spiritually. 


The  Indian's  Health  Problem          137 

This  does  not  mean  all  Indians — a  few,  like 
the  Navajoes,  have  retained  their  native  vigor 
and  independence — I  refer  to  the  typical 
"agency  Indian"  of  the  Northwest.  He  drove 
ten  to  sixty  miles  to  the  agency  for  food;  every 
week-end  at  some  agencies,  at  others  every  two 
weeks,  and  at  still  others  once  a  month.  This 
was  all  the  real  business  he  had  to  occupy  him — 
travelling  between  cabin  and  agency  ware 
houses  for  twenty-five  years!  All  this  time  he 
was  brooding  over  the  loss  of  his  freedom,  his 
country  rich  in  game,  and  all  the  pleasures  and 
satisfactions  of  wild  life.  Even  the  arid  plains 
and  wretched  living  left  him  he  was  not  sure  of, 
judging  from  past  experience  with  a  government 
that  makes  a  solemn  treaty  guaranteeing  him  a 
certain  territory  "forever,"  and  taking  it  away 
from  him  the  next  year  if  it  appears  that  some 
of  their  own  people  want  it,  after  all. 

Like  the  Israelites  in  bondage,  our  own  ab 
origines  have  felt  the  sweet  life-giving  air  of 
freedom  change  to  the  burning  heat  of  a  desert 
as  dreary  as  that  of  Egypt  under  Pharaoh.  It 
was  during  this  period  of  hopeless  resignation, 
gloomily  awaiting — what,  no  Indian  could  even 
guess — that  his  hardy,  yet  sensitive,  organization 
gave  way.  Who  can  wonder  at  it?  His  home 


138  The  Indian  To-day 

was  a  little,  one-roomed  log  cabin,  about  twelve 
by  twenty  feet,  mud-chinked,  containing  a  box 
stove  and  a  few  sticks  of  furniture.  The  average 
cabin  has  a  dirt  floor  and  a  dirt  roof.  They  are 
apt  to  be  overheated  in  winter,  and  the  air  is 
vitiated  at  all  times,  but  especially  at  night, 
when  there  is  no  ventilation  whatever.  Families 
of  four  to  ten  persons  lived,  and  many  still 
live,  in  these  huts.  Fortunately  the  air  of  the 
plains  is  dry,  or  we  should  have  lost  them  all! 

Remember,  these  people  were  accustomed 
to  the  purest  of  air  and  water.  The  teepee  was 
little  more  than  a  canopy  to  shelter  them  from 
the  elements;  it  was  pitched  every  few  days 
upon  new,  clean  ground.  Clothing  was  loose 
and  simple,  and  frequent  air  and  sun  baths,  as 
well  as  baths  in  water  and  steam,  together  with 
the  use  of  emollient  oils,  kept  the  skin  in  perfect 
condition.  Their  food  was  fresh  and  wholesome, 
largely  wild  meat  and  fish,  with  a  variety  of  wild 
fruits,  roots,  and  grain,  and  some  cultivated 
ones.  At  first  they  could  not  eat  the  issue  bacon, 
and  on  ration  days  one  might  see  these  strips  of 
unwholesome-looking  fat  lying  about  on  the 
ground  where  they  had  been  thrown  on  the 
return  trip.  Flour,  top,  was  often  thrown  away 
before  the  women  had  learned  to  make  bread 


The  Indian's  Health  Problem          139 

raised  with  cheap  baking-powder  and  fried  in 
grease.  But  the  fresh  meat  they  received  was 
not  enough  to  last  until  the  next  ration  day. 
There  was  no  end  of  bowel  trouble  when  they 
were  forced  by  starvation  to  swallow  the  bacon 
and  ill-prepared  bread.  Water,  too,  was  gen 
erally  hauled  from  a  distance  with  much  labor, 
and  stood  about  in  open  buckets  or  barrels  for 
several  days. 

As  their  strength  waned,  they  made  more 
fire  in  the  stove  and  sat  over  it,  drinking  rank 
coffee  and  tea  that  had  boiled  all  day  on  the 
same  stove.  After  perspiring  thus  for  hours, 
many  would  go  out  into  the  bitter  cold  of  a 
Dakota  winter  with  little  or  no  additional 
clothing,  and  bronchitis  and  pneumonia  were 
the  inevitable  result.  The  uncured  cases  be 
came  chronic  and  led  straight  to  tuberculosis 
in  its  various  forms. 

Furthermore,  the  Indian  had  not  become  in 
any  sense  immune  to  disease,  and  his  ignorance 
placed  no  check  upon  contagion  and  infection. 
Even  the  simpler  children's  diseases,  such  as 
measles,  were  generally  fatal.  The  death-rate 
of  children  under  five  was  terrific.  I  have  known 
women  to  bear  families  of  six  or  eight  or  ten 
children,  and  outlive  them  all,  most  dying  in 


140  The  Indian  To-day 

infancy.  In  their  state  of  deep  depression  dis 
ease  had  its  golden  opportunity,  and  there 
seemed  to  be  no  escape.  What  was  there  to 
save  the  race  from  annihilation  within  a  few 
years?  Nothing,  save  its  heritage  of  a  superb 
physique  and  a  wonderful  patience. 

THE    INDIAN    SERVICE    PHYSICIAN 

The  doctors  who  were  in  the  service  in  those 
days  had  an  easy  time  of  it.  They  scarcely  ever 
went  outside  of  the  agency  enclosure,  and  issued 
their  pills  and  compounds  after  the  most  casual 
inquiry.  As  late  as  1890,  when  the  Govern 
ment  sent  me  out  as  physician  to  ten  thousand 
Ogallalla  Sioux  and  Northern  Cheyennes  at 
Pine  Ridge  Agency,  I  found  my  predecessor  still 
practising  his  profession  through  a  small  hole 
in  the  wall  between  his  office  and  the  general 
assembly  room  of  the  Indians.  One  of  the 
first  things  I  did  was  to  close  that  hole;  and  I 
allowed  no  man  to  diagnose  his  own  trouble  or 
choose  his  pills.  I  told  him  I  preferred  to  do 
that  myself;  and  I  insisted  upon  thoroughly  ex 
amining  my  patients.  It  was  a  revelation  to 
them,  but  they  soon  appreciated  the  point,  and 
the  demand  for  my  services  doubled  and  trebled. 

As  no  team  was  provided  for  my  use  to  visit 


The  Indian's  Health  Problem          141 

my  patients  on  a  reservation  nearly  a  hundred 
miles  square  (or  for  any  other  agency  doctor  at 
the  time),  I  bought  a  riding  horse,  saddle  and 
saddle-bags,  and  was  soon  on  the  road  almost 
day  and  night.  A  night  ride  of  fifty  to  seventy- 
five  miles  was  an  ordinary  occurrence;  and  even 
a  Dakota  blizzard  made  no  difference,  for  I 
never  refused  to  answer  a  call.  Before  many 
months  I  was  supplied  by  the  Government  with 
a  covered  buggy  and  two  good  horses. 

I  found  it  necessary  to  buy,  partly  with  my 
own  funds  and  partly  with  money  contributed 
by  generous  friends,  a  supply  of  suitable  remed 
ies  as  well  as  a  full  set  of  surgical  instruments. 
The  drugs  supplied  by  contractors  to  the  Indian 
service  were  at  that  period  often  obsolete  in  kind, 
and  either  stale  or  of  the  poorest  quality.  Much 
of  my  labor  was  wasted,  moreover,  because  of 
the  impossibility  of  seeing  that  my  directions 
were  followed,  and  of  securing  proper  nursing 
and  attention.  Major  operations  were  generally 
out  of  the  question  on  account  of  the  lack  of 
hospital  facilities,  as  well  as  the  prejudice  of 
the  people,  though  I  did  operate  on  several  of 
the  severely  injured  after  the  massacre  at 
Wounded  Knee.  In  many  cases  it  was  my  task 
to  supply  my  patients  with  suitable  food  and 


142  The  Indian  To-day 

other  necessaries,  and  my  wife  was  always  pre 
pared  for  a  raid  on  her  kitchen  and  storeroom  for 
bread,  soup,  sheets,  and  bandages. 

The  old-time  "medicine-man"  was  really 
better  than  the  average  white  doctor  in  those 
days,  for  although  his  treatment  was  largely 
suggestive,  his  herbs  were  harmless  and  he  did 
allay  some  distress  which  the  other  aggravated, 
because  he  used  powerful  drugs  almost  at  ran 
dom  and  did  not  attend  to  his  cases  intelligently. 
The  native  practitioners  were  at  first  suspicious 
of  me  as  a  dangerous  rival,  but  we  soon  became 
good  friends,  and  they  sometimes  came  frankly 
to  me  for  advice  and  even  proposed  to  borrow 
some  of  my  remedies. 

Of  course,  even  in  that  early  period  when  the 
average  Government  doctor  feared  to  risk  his 
life  by  going  freely  among  the  people  (though 
there  was  no  real  danger  unless  he  invited  it), 
there  were  a  few  who  were  sincere  and  partially 
successful,  especially  some  military  surgeons. 

Now  that  stage  of  the  medical  work  among 
the  Indians  is  past,  and  the  agency  doctor  has 
no  valid  excuse  for  failing  to  perform  his  pro 
fessional  duty.  It  is  true  that  he  is  poorly  paid 
and  too  often  overworked;  but  the  equipment 
is  better  and  there  is  intelligent  supervision. 


The  Indian's  Health  Problem  143 

At  Pine  Ridge,  where  I  labored  single-handed, 
there  are  now  three  physicians,  with  a  hospital 
to  aid  them  in  their  work.  To-day  there  are 
two  hundred  physicians,  with  a  head  supervisor 
and  a  number  of  specialists,  seventy  nurses,  and 
eighty  field  matrons  in  the  Indian  service. 

SOME    MISTAKES   AND  THE    REMEDIES 

- 

Another  serious  mistake  has  been  made  in 
the  poor  sanitary  equipment  of  Indian  schools. 
Close  confinement  and  long  hours  of  work  were 
for  these  children  of  the  forest  and  plains  un 
natural  and  trying  at  best.  Dormitories  es 
pecially  have  been  shamefully  overcrowded,  and 
undesirable  pupils,  both  by  reason  of  disease 
and  bad  morals,  allowed  to  mingle  freely  with 
the  healthy  and  innocent.  Serious  mishaps 
have  occurred  which  have  given  some  of  these 
schools  a  bad  name;  but  I  really  believe  that 
greater  care  is  being  taken  at  the  present  time. 
It  was  chiefly  at  an  early  period  of  the  Indian's 
advance  toward  civilization  that  both  misman 
agement  and  adverse  circumstance,  combined 
with  his  own  inexperience  and  ignorance  of  the 
new  ways,  weakened  his  naturally  splendid 
powers  and  paved  the  way  for  his  present  physi 
cal  decline.  His  mental  lethargy  and  want  of 


144  The  Indian  To-day 

ambition  under  the  deadening  reservation  sys 
tem  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  outcome. 

He  was  in  a  sense  muzzled.  He  was  told: 
"You  are  yet  a  child.  You  cannot  teach  your 
own  children,  nor  judge  of  their  education. 
They  must  not  even  use  their  mother  tongue. 
I  will  do  it  all  myself.  I  have  got  to  make  you 
over;  meanwhile,  I  will  feed  and  clothe  you.  I 
will  be  your  nurse  and  guardian/' 

This  is  what  happened  to  this  proud  and  self- 
respecting  race!  But  since  then  they  have  si 
lently  studied  the  world's  history  and  manners; 
they  have  wandered  far  and  wide  and  observed 
life  for  themselves.  They  have  thought  much. 
The  great  change  has  come  about;  the  work  has 
been  done,  whether  poorly  or  otherwise,  and, 
upon  the  whole,  the  good  will  prevail.  The 
pessimist  may  complain  that  nothing  has  come 
of  all  the  effort  made  in  behalf  of  the  Indian. 
I  say  that  it  is  not  too  late  for  the  original  Amer 
ican  to  regain  and  reestablish  his  former  physical 
excellency.  Why  should  he  not?  Much  de 
pends  upon  his  own  mental  attitude,  and  this  is 
becoming  more  normal  as  the  race  approaches 
and  some  part  of  it  attains  to  self-support  and 
full  citizenship.  As  I  have  said,  conditions  are 
improving;  yet  much  remains  to  be  done;  and  it 


The  Indian's  Health  Problem          145 

should  be  done  quickly.  An  exhaustive  inquiry 
into  health  conditions  among  the  tribes  was 
made  in  accordance  with  an  act  of  Congress  in 
1912,  and  the  report  presented  in  January,  1913, 
was  in  brief  as  follows : 

1 .  Trachoma  is  exceedingly  prevalent  among 
Indians. 

2.  Tuberculosis  among  Indians  is  greatly  in 
excess  of  that  estimated  for  the  white  popula 
tion. 

3  .  The  sanitary  conditions  upon  reservations 
are,  on  the  whole,  bad. 

4.  The  primitive  Indian  requires  instruction 
in  personal  hygiene  and  habits  of  living  in  sta 
tionary  dwellings. 

5.  The  sanitary  conditions  in   most  Indian 
schools  are  unsatisfactory. 

6.  There  is  danger  of  the  spread  of  tubercu 
losis  and  trachoma  from  thelndian  to  other  races. 

7 .  Due  care  is  not  taken  in  the  collection  and 
preservation  of  vital  statistics. 

8.  The   medical   department   of  the   Indian 
Bureau  is  hampered  by  insufficient   authority 
and  inadequate  compensation. 

As  a  result  of  this  and  other  investigations, 
increased  appropriations  hav^  been  asked  for, 


146  The  Indian  To-day 

and  to  a  limited  extent  provided,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  preventing  and  treating  disease,  and 
especially  of  checking  the  spread  of  serious 
contagious  ailments.  More  stress  is  being  laid 
upon  sanitary  precautions  and  hygienic  instruc 
tion  in  Indian  schools,  and  an  effort  is  made  to 
carry  this  instruction  into  the  Indian  home 
through  field  matrons  and  others.  Four  sana 
toria  or  sanitarium  schools  have  been  success 
fully  established  in  suitable  climates,  and  it 
is  recommended  by  an  Indian  Service  specialist 
that  certain  boarding-school  plants  be  set  apart 
for  trachoma  pupils,  where  they  can  have  thor 
ough  and  consistent  treatment  and  remain  until 
the  cure  is  complete.  Much  larger  appropria 
tions  are  needed  in  order  to  carry  out  in  full 
these  beneficent  measures,  and  I  earnestly  hope 
that  they  may  be  forthcoming. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  whereas  a  few 
years  ago  the  Indians  were  reproved  for  placing 
their  sick  in  canvas  tents  and  arbors,  and  in 
every  way  discouraged  from  any  attempt  to 
get  out  of  their  stifling  houses  into  the  life- 
giving  air,  sleeping-porches  are  now  being  added 
to  their  hospitals,  and  open-air  schools  and  sana 
toria  established  for  their  children.  The  world 
really  does  move,  and  to  some,  extent  it  seems 


The  Indian's  Health  Problem          147 

to  be  moving  round  to  his  original  point  of  view. 
It  is  not  too  late  to  save  his  physique  as  well  as 
his  unique  philosophy,  especially  at  this  moment 
when  the  spirit  of  the  age  has  recognized  the 

better  part  of  his  scheme  of  life. 

< 

It  is  too  late,  however,  to  save  his  color;  for 
the  Indian  young  men  themselves  have  entirely 
abandoned  their  old  purpose  to  keep  aloof  from 
the  racial  melting-pot.  They  now  intermarry 
extensively  with  Americans  and  are  rearing  a 
healthy  and  promising  class  of  children.  The 
tendency  of  the  mixed-bloods  is  toward  increased 
fertility  and  beauty  as  well  as  good  mentality. 
This  cultivation  and  infusion  of  new  blood  has 
relieved  and  revived  the  depressed  spirit  of  the 
first  American  to  a  noticeable  degree,  and  his 
health  problem  will  be  successfully  met  if  those 
who  are  entrusted  with  it  will  do  their  duty. 

My  people  have  a  heritage  that  can  be  de 
pended  upon,  and  the  two  races  at  last  in  some 
degree  understand  one  another.  I  have  no  seri 
ous  concern  about  the  new  Indian,  for  he  has 
now  reached  a  point  where  he  is  bound  to  be  rec 
ognized.  This  is  his  native  country,  and  its  af 
fairs  are  vitally  his  affairs,  while  his  well-being 
is  equally  vital  to  his  white  neighbors  and  fellow- 
Americans. 


CHAPTER  X 
NATIVE  ARTS  AND  INDUSTRIES 

IN  HIS  sense  of  the  aesthetic,  which  is  closely 
akin  to  religious  feeling,  the  American  Indian 
stands  alone.  In  accord  with  his  nature  and 
beliefs,  he  does  not  pretend  to  imitate  the  in 
imitable,  or  to  reproduce  exactly  the  work  of 
the  Great  Artist.  That  which  is  beautiful  must 
not  be  trafficked  with,  but  must  only  be  rever 
enced  and  adored.  It  must  appear  in  speech 
and  action.  The  symmetrical  and  graceful  body 
must  express  something  of  it.  Beauty,  in  our 
eyes,  is  always  fresh  and  living,  even  as  God 
Himself  dresses  the  world  anew  at  each  season 
of  the  year. 

It  may  be  artistic  to  imitate  nature  and  even 
try  to  improve  upon  her,  but  we  Indians  think 
it  very  tiresome,  especially  as  one  considers  the 
material  side  of  the  work — the  pigment,  the 
brush,  the  canvas!  There  is  no  mystery  there; 
you  know  all  about  them!  Worst  of  all  is  the 

148 


Native  Arts  and  Industries  149 

commercialization  of  art.  The  rudely  carved 
totem  pole  may  appear  grotesque  to  the  white 
man,  but  it  is  the  sincere  expression  of  the  faith 
and  personality  of  the  Indian  craftsman,  and 
has  never  been  sold  or  bartered  until  it  reached 
civilization. 

THE  INDIAN'S  VIEWPOINT 

Now  we  see  at  once  the  root  of  the  red  man's 
failure  to  approach  even  distantly  the  artistic 
standard  of  the  civilized  world.  It  lies  not  in 
the  lack  of  creative  imagination — for  in  this 
quality  he  is  a  born  artist — it  lies  rather  in  his 
point  of  view.  I  once  showed  a  party  of  Sioux 
chiefs  the  sights  of  Washington,  and  endeavored 
to  impress  them  with  the  wonderful  achieve 
ments  of  civilization.  After  visiting  the  Capitol 
and  other  famous  buildings,  we  passed  through 
the  Corcoran  Art  Gallery,  where  I  tried  to  ex 
plain  how  the  white  man  valued  this  or  that 
painting  as  a  work  of  genius  and  a  masterpiece 
of  art. 

"Ah!"  exclaimed  an  old  man,  "such  is  the 
strange  philosophy  of  the  white  man!  He  hews 
down  the  forest  that  has  stood  for  centuries  in  its 
pride  and  grandeur,  tears  up  the  bosom  of  mother 
earth,  and  causes  the  silvery  watercourses  to 


150  The  Indian  To-day 

waste  and  vanish  away.  He  ruthlessly  disfigures 
God's  own  pictures  and  monuments,  and  then 
daubs  a  flat  surface  with  many  colors,  and 
praises  his  work  as  a  masterpiece!" 

This  is  the  spirit  of  the  original  American.  He 
holds  nature  to  be  the  measure  of  consummate 
beauty,  and  its  destruction  as  sacrilege.  I  have 
seen  in  our  midsummer  celebrations  cool  arbors 
built  of  fresh-cut  branches  for  council  and  dance 
halls,  while  those  who  attended  decked  them 
selves  with  leafy  boughs,  carrying  shields  and 
fans  of  the  same,  and  even  making  wreaths  for 
their  horses'  necks.  But,  strange  to  say,  they 
seldom  made  a  free  use  of  flowers.  I  once  asked 
the  reason  of  this. 

"Why,"  said  one,  "the  flowers  are  for  our 
souls  to  enjoy;  not  for  our  bodies  to  wear. 
Leave  them  alone  and  they  will  live  out  their 
lives  and  reproduce  themselves  as  the  Great 
Gardener  intended.  He  planted  them :  we  must 
not  pluck  them,  for  it  would  be  selfish  to  do  so." 

Indian  beadwork  in  leaf  and  flower  designs 
is  generally  modern.  The  old-time  patterns  are 
for  the  most  part  simple  geometrical  figures, 
which  are  decorative  and  emblematic  rather 
than  imitative.  Shafts  of  light  and  shadow 
alternating  or  dovetailed  represent  life,  its  joys 


Native  Arts  and  Industries  151 

and  sorrows.  The  world  is  conceived  of  as 
rectangular  and  flat,  and  is  represented  by  a 
square.  The  sky  is  concave — a  hollow  sphere. 
A  drawing  of  the  horizon  line  colored  pale  yellow 
stands  for  dawn;  colored  red,  for  sunset.  Day 
is  blue,  and  night  black  spangled  with  stars. 
Lightning,  rain,  wind,  water,  mountains,  and 
many  other  natural  features  or  elements  are 
symbolized  rather  than  copied  literally  upon 
many  sorts  of  Indian  handiwork.  Animal 
figures  are  drawn  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give 
expression  to  the  type  or  spirit  of  the  animal 
rather  than  its  body,  emphasizing  the  head  with 
the  horns,  or  any  distinguishing  feature.  These 
designs  have  a  religious  significance  and  furnish 
the  individual  with  his  personal  and  clan  em 
blem,  or  coat  of  arms. 

Symbolic  decorations  are  used  on  blankets, 
baskets,  pottery,  and  garments  of  ceremony  to 
be  worn  at  rituals  and  public  functions.  Some 
times  a  man's  teepee  is  decorated  in  accordance 
with  the  standing  of  the  owner.  Weapons  of 
war  are  adorned  with  emblems,  and  also  pipes, 
or  calumets,  but  not  the  every-day  weapons 
used  in  hunting.  The  war  steed  is  decorated 
equally  with  his  rider,  and  sometimes  wears  the 
feathers  that  signify  degrees  of  honor. 


152  The  Indian  To-day 

THE   WOMAN   AND   HER   CRAFTSMANSHIP 

In  his  weaving,  painting,  and  embroidery  of 
beads  and  quills  the  red  man  has  shown  a  marked 
color  sense,  and  his  blending  of  brilliant  hues  is 
subtle  and  Oriental  in  effect.  The  women  did 
most  of  this  work  and  displayed  vast  ingenuity 
in  the  selection  of  native  materials  and  dyes. 
A  variety  of  beautiful  grasses,  roots,  and  barks 
are  used  for  baskets  by  the  different  tribes,  and 
some  even  used  gorgeous  feathers  for  extra  or 
namentation.  Each  was  perfectly  adapted  in 
style,  size,  and  form  to  its  intended  use. 

Pottery  was  made  by  the  women  of  the  south 
west  for  household  furniture  and  utensils,  and 
their  vessels,  burned  in  crude  furnaces,  were 
often  gracefully  shaped  and  exquisitely  deco 
rated.  The  designs  were  both  imprinted  on  the 
soft  clay  and  modeled  in  relief.  The  nomadic 
tribes  of  the  plains  could  not  well  carry  these 
fragile  wares  with  them  on  their  wanderings, 
and  accordingly  their  dishes  were  mainly  of 
bark  and  wood,  the  latter  sometimes  carved. 
Spoons  were  prettily  made  of  translucent  horn. 
They  were  fond  of  painting  their  rawhide  cases 
in  brilliant  colors.  The  most  famous  blankets 
are  made  by  the  Navajoes  upon  rude  hand  looms 


Native  Arts  and  Industries  153 

and  are  wonderfully  fine  in  weave,  color,  and 
design. 

This  native  skill  combined  with  love  of  the 
work  and  perfect  sincerity — the  qualities  which 
still  make  the  Indian  woman's  blanket  or  basket 
or  bowl  or  moccasins  of  the  old  type  so  highly 
prized — are  among  the  precious  things  lost  or 
sacrificed  to  the  advance  of  an  alien  civilization. 
Cheap  machine-made  garments  and  utensils, 
without  beauty  or  durability,  have  crowded  out 
the  old;  and  where  the  women  still  ply  their 
ancient  trade,  they  do  it  now  for  money,  not  for 
love,  and  in  most  cases  use  modern  materials 
and  patterns,  even  imported  yarns  and  "Dia 
mond  dyes!"  Genuine  curios  or  antiques  are 
already  becoming  very  rare,  except  in  museums, 
and  sometimes  command  fabulous  prices.  As 
the  older  generation  passes,  there  is  danger  of 
losing  altogether  the  secret  of  Indian  art  and 
craftsmanship. 

MODERN    INDIAN    ART 

Struck  by  this  danger,  and  realizing  the  innate 
charm  of  the  work  and  its  adaptability  to  mod 
ern  demands,  a  few  enthusiasts  have  made  of 
late  years  an  effort  to  preserve  and  extend  it, 
both  in  order  that  a  distinctive  and  vitally 


154  The  Indian  To-day 

American  art-form  may  not  disappear,  and  as  a 
means  of  self-support  for  Indian  women.  De 
pots  or  stores  have  been  established  at  various 
points  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  such  man 
ufactures  and  of  finding  a  market  for  them,  not 
so  much  from  commercial  as  from  artistic  and 
philanthropic  motives.  The  best  known,  per 
haps,  is  the  Mohonk  Lodge,  Colony,  Oklahoma, 
founded  under  the  auspices  of  the  Mohonk 
Indian  Conference,  where  all  work  is  guaranteed 
of  genuine  Indian  make,  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
of  native  material  and  design.  Such  articles 
as  bags,  belts,  and  moccasins  are,  however, 
made  in  modern  form  so  as  to  be  appropriate 
for  wear  by  the  modern  woman.  Miss  Jose 
phine  Foard  assisted  the  women  of  the  Laguna 
pueblo  to  glaze  their  wares,  thereby  rendering 
them  more  salable;  and  the  Indian  Industries 
League,  with  headquarters  in  Boston,  works 
along  similar  lines. 

The  Indian  Bureau  reports  that  over  $600,000 
worth  of  Navajo  blankets  were  made  during  the 
last  year,  and  that  prizes  will  be  awarded  this  fall 
for  the  best  blankets  made  of  native  wool.  At 
Pima  $i  5,000  worth  of  baskets  and  $5,000  worth 
of  pottery  was  made  and  sold,  and  a  less  amount 
was  produced  at  several  other  agencies. 


Native  Arts  and  Industries  155 

Another  modern  development,  significant  of 
the  growing  appreciation  of  what  is  real  and 
valuable  in  primitive  culture,  is  the  instruction 
of  the  younger  generation  in  the  Government 
schools  in  the  traditional  arts  and  crafts  of  their 
people.  As  schooling  is  compulsory  between 
the  ages  of  six  and  sixteen  years,  and  from  the 
more  distant  boarding-schools  the  pupils  are 
not  even  allowed  to  go  home  for  the  summer  va 
cation,  most  of  them  would  otherwise  grow  up 
in  ignorance  of  their  natural  heritage,  in  legend, 
music,  and  art  forms  as  well  as  practical  handi 
crafts.  The  greatest  difficulty  in  the  way  is  the 
finding  of  competent  and  sympathetic  teachers. 

At  Carlisle  there  are  and  have  been  for  some 
years  two  striking  exemplars  of  the  native  talent 
and  modern  culture  of  their  race,  in  joint  charge 
of  the  department  of  Indian  art.  Angel  DeCora 
was  a  Winnebago  girl,  who  was  graduated  from 
the  Hampton  school  and  from  the  art  depart 
ment  of  Smith  College.  She  was  afterward  a 
pupil  of  the  famous  American  illustrator,  Howard 
Pyle,  and  herself  made  a  distinctive  success  in 
this  field,  having  illustrated  several  books  and 
articles  on  Indian  subjects.  Some  of  her  work 
has  appeared  in  Harper's  Magazine  and  other 
high-class  periodicals.  She  had  a  studio  in  New 


156  The  Indian  To-day 

York  City  for  several  years,  until  invited  to 
teach  art  at  the  Carlisle  school,  where  she  has 
been  ever  since. 

A  few  years  ago  she  married  William  Dietz 
(Lone  Star),  who  is  half  Sioux.  He  is  a  fine, 
manly  fellow,  who  was  for  years  a  great  football 
player,  as  well  as  an  accomplished  artist.  The 
couple  have  not  only  the  artistic  and  poetic 
temperament  in  full  measure,  but  they  have  the 
pioneer  spirit  and  aspire  to  do  much  for  their 
race.  The  effective  cover  designs  and  other 
art  work  of  the  Carlisle  school  magazine,  The 
Red  Man,  are  the  work  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dietz, 
who  are  successfully  developing  native  talent 
in  the  production  of  attractive  and  salable  rugs, 
blankets,  and  silver  jewelry.  Besides  this,  they 
are  seeking  to  discover  latent  artistic  gifts 
among  the  students  in  order  that  they  may  be 
fully  trained  and  utilized  in  the  direction  of 
pure  or  applied  art.  It  is  admitted  that  the 
average  Indian  child  far  surpasses  the  average 
white  child  in  this  direction.  The  Indian  did 
not  paint  nature,  not  because  he  did  not  feel  it, 
but  because  it  was  sacred  to  him.  He  so  loved 
the  reality  that  he  could  not  venture  upon  the 
imitation.  It  is  now  time  to  unfold  the  re 
sources  of  his  genius,  locked  up  for  untold  ages 


Native  Arts  and  Industries  157 

by  the  usages  and  philosophy .  of  his  people. 
They  held  it  sacrilege  to  reproduce  the  exact 
likeness  of  the  human  form  or  face.  This  is 
the  reason  that  early  attempts  to  paint  the 
natives  were  attended  with  difficulty,  and  there 
are  still  Indians  who  refuse  to  be  photographed. 

MUSIC,   DANCING,   DRAMATIC   ART 

A  form  of  self-expression  which  has  always 
been  characteristic  of  my  race  is  found  in  their 
music.     In  music  is  the  very  soul  of  the  Indian; 
yet  the  civilized  nations  have  but  recently  dis 
covered  that  such  a  thing  exists!     His  chants 
are  simple,  expressive,  and  haunting  in  quality,*" 
and  voice  his  inmost  feelings,  grave  or  gay,  in 
every  emotion  and  situation  in  life.     They  vary 
much  with  tribes  and  even  with  individuals. 
A  man  often  composes  his  own  song,  which  be 
longs  to  him  and  is  deeply  imbued  with  his^. 
personality.     These  songs  are  frequently  with 
out  words,  the  meaning  being  too  profound  for 
words;  they  are  direct  emanations  of  the  human 
spirit.     If  words  are  used,  they  are  few  and  sym-^ 
bolic  in  character.     There  is  no  definite  harmony 
in  the  songs — only  rhythm  and  melody,  and  there  L 
are  striking  variations  of  time  and  intonation 
which  render  them  difficult  to  the" civilized  "ear.*" 


158  The  Indian  To-day 

Nevertheless,  within  the  last  few  years  there 
has  been  a  serious  effort  to  collect  these  wild 
folksongs  of  the  woods  and  plains  by  means  of 
notation  and  the  phonograph,  and  in  some  cases 
this  has  been  connected  with  the  attempt  to 
harmonize  and  popularize  them.  Miss  Alice 
C.  Fletcher,  the  distinguished  ethnologist  and 
student  of  early  American  culture,  was  a  pioneer 
in  this  field,  in  which  she  was  assisted  by  Prof. 
J.  C.  Filmore,  who  is  no  longer  living.  Freder 
ick  Burton  died  several  years  ago,  immediately 
after  the  publication  of  his  interesting  work  on 
the  music  of  the  Ojibways,  which  is  fully  illus 
trated  with  songs  collected  and  in  some  instances 
harmonized  by  himself.  Miss  Natalie  Curtis 
devoted  much  patient  study  to  the  songs  of 
the  tribes,  especially  of  the  Pueblos,  and  later 
comers  in  this  field  are  Farwell,  Troyer,  Lieu- 
ranee,  and  Cadman,  the  last  of  whom  uses  the 
native  airs  as  a  motive  for  more  elaborated  songs. 
His  "Land  of  the  Sky  Blue  Water"  is  charming, 
and  already  very  popular.  Harold  A.  Loring 
of  North  Dakota  has  recently  harmonized  some 
of  the  songs  of  the  Sioux. 

Several  singers  of  Indian  blood  are  giving 
public  recitals  of  this  appealing  and  mysterious 
music  of  their  race.  There  has  even  been  an 


Native  Arts  and  Industries  159 

attempt  to  teach  it  to  our  schoolchildren,  and 
Geoffrey  O'Hara,  a  young  composer  of  New 
York  City,  made  a  beginning  in  this  direction 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Indian  Bureau.  Na 
tive  melodies  have  also  been  adapted  and  pop 
ularized  for  band  and  orchestra  by  native 
musicians,  of  whom  the  best  known  are  Dennison 
Wheelock  and  his  brother  James  Wheelock, 
Oneidas  and  graduates  of  Carlisle.  When  we 
recall  that  as  recent  as  twenty  years  ago  all 
native  art  was  severely  discountenanced  and 
discouraged,  if  not  actually  forbidden,  in  Gov 
ernment  schools,  and  often  by  missionaries  as 
well,  the  present  awakening  is  matter  for  mutual 
congratulations. 

Many  Americans  have  derived  their  only  per 
sonal  knowledge  of  Indians  from  the  circus  tent 
and  the  sawdust  arena.  The  red  man  is  a  born 
actor,  a  dancer  and  rider  of  surpassing  agility, 
but  he  needs  the  great  out  of  doors  for  his  stage. 
In  pageantry,  and  especially  equestrian  pagean 
try,  he  is  most  effective.  His  extraordinarily 
picturesque  costume,  and  the  realistic  manner 
in  which  he  illustrates  and  reproduces  the  life 
of  the  early  frontier,  has  made  of  him  a  great, 
romantic,  and  popular  attraction  not  only  here 
but  in  Europe.  Several  white  men  have  taken 


160  The  Indian  To-day 

advantage  of  this  fact  to  make  their  fortunes, 
of  whom  the  most  enterprising  and  successful 
was  Col.  William  Cody,  better  known  as 
"Buffalo  Bill." 

The  Indians  engaged  to  appear  in  his  and 
other  shows  have  been  paid  moderate  salaries 
and  usually  well  treated,  though  cases  have 
arisen  in  which  they  have  been  stranded  at 
long  distances  from  home.  As  they  cannot  be 
taken  from  the  reservation  without  the  consent 
of  the  authorities,  repeated  efforts  have  been 
made  by  missionaries  and  others  to  have  such 
permission  refused  on  the  ground  of  moral  harm 
to  the  participants  in  these  sham  battles  and 
dances.  Undoubtedly  they  see  a  good  deal  of 
the  seamy  side  of  civilization;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  their  travels  have  proved  of  educational 
value,  and  in  some  instances  opened  their  eyes 
to  good  effect  to  the  superior  power  of  the  white 
man.  Sitting  Bull  and  other  noted  chiefs  have, 
at  one  time  or  another,  been  connected  with 
Indian  shows. 

A  pageant-play  based  on  Longfellow's  poem  of 
"Hiawatha"  has  been  given  successfully  for 
several  years  by  native  Ojibway  actors;  and  in 
dividuals  of  Indian  blood  have  appeared  on  the 
stage  in  minor  parts,  and  more  prominently  in 


Native  Arts  and  Industries  161 

motion  pictures,  where  they  are  often  engaged 
to  represent  tribal  customs  and  historical  events. 

USEFUL   ARTS    AND    INVENTIONS 

Among  native  inventions  which  have  been  of  > 
conspicuous  use  and  value  to  the  dispossessors  of 
the  Indian  we  recollect  at  once  the  bark  canoe, 
the  snowshoe,  the  moccasin  (called  the  most  per 
fect  footwear  ever  invented),  the  game  of  lacrosse 
and  probably  other  games,  also  the  conical  teepee 
which  served  as  a  model  for  the  Sibley  army 
tent.  Pemmican,  a  condensed  food  made  of 
pounded  dried  meat  combined  with  melted  fat 
and  dried  fruits,  has  been  largely  utilized  by 
recent  polar  explorers. 

The  art  of  sugar  making. from  the  sap  of  the 
hard  or  sugar  maple  was  first  taught  by  the 
aborigines  to  the  white  settlers.      In  my  day 
the  Sioux  used  also  the  box  elder  for  sugar  mak 
ing,  and  from  the  birch  and  ash  is  made  a  dark- 
colored  sugar  that  was  used  by  them  as  a  carried 
in  medicine.     However,  none  of  these  yield  as 
freely  as  the  maple.     The  Ojibways  of  Minne 
sota  still  make  and  sell  delicious  maple  sugar/" 
put  up  in  "mococks,"  or  birch-bark  packages. 
Their  wild  rice,  a  native  grain  of  remarkably^ 
fine  flavor  and  nutritious  qualities,  is  also  in  a 


162  The  Indian  To-day 

small  way  an  article  of  commerce.  It  really 
ought  to  be  grown  on  a  large  scale  and  popular 
ized  as  a  package  cereal.  A  large  fortune 
doubtless  awaits  the  lucky  exploiter  of  this  dis 
tinctive  "breakfast  food/' 

In  agriculture  the  achievements  of  the  Indian 
have  probably  been  underestimated,  although  it 
is  well  known  that  the  Indian  corn  was  the 
mother  of  all  the  choice  varieties  which  to-day 
form  an  important  source  of  food  supply  for 
the  civilized  world.  The  women  cultivated  the 
maize  with  primitive  implements,  and  prepared 
it  for  food  in  many  attractive  forms,  including 
hominy  and  succotash,  of  which  the  names, 
as  well  as  the  dishes  themselves,  are  borrowed 
from  the  red  man.  He  has  not  always  been 
rewarded  in  kind  for  his  goodly  gifts.  In  1830 
the  American  Fur  Company  established  a  dis 
tillery  at  the  mouth"  of  the  Yellowstone  River, 
and  made  alcohol  from  the  corn  raised  by  the 
Gros  Ventre  women,  with  which  they  demoral 
ized  the  men  of  the  Dakotas,  Montana,  and 
British  Columbia.  Besides  maize  and  tobacco, 
some  tribes,  especially  in  the  South,  grew  native 
cotton  and  a  variety  of  fruits  and  vegetables. 

The  buckskin  clothing  of  my  race  was  ex-1* 
ceedingly  practical  as  well  as  handsome,  and 


Native  Arts  and  Industries  163 

has  been  adapted  to  the  use  of  hunters,  explorers, 
and  frontiersmen,  down  to  the  present  day. 
His  feathers  and  other  decorations  are  imitated 
by  women  of  fashion,  and  his  moccasin  was 
never  so  much  in  vogue  as  now.  The  old  wooden 
Indian  in  front  of  the  tobacco  store  looks  less* 
lonely  as  he  gazes  upon  a  procession  of  bright- 
eyed  young  people,  with  now  and  then  one 
older,  Indian-clad,  joyous,  and  full  of  health, 
returning,  if  only  for  a  few  short  weeks,  to  the 
life  he  knew  of  old. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  INDIAN'S  GIFTS  TO  THE  NATION 

WHAT  does  the  original  American  contribute, 
in  the  final  summing  up,  to  the  country  of  his 
birth  and  his  adoption?  Not  much,  perhaps, 
in  comparison  with  the  brilliant  achievements 
of  civilization;  yet,  after  all,  is  there  not  some 
thing  worthy  of  perpetuation  in  the  spirit  of  his 
democracy — the  very  essence  of  patriotism  and 
justice  between  man  and  man?  Silently,  by 
example  only,  in  wordless  patience,  he  holds 
stoutly  to  his  native  vision.  We  must  admit 
that  the  tacit  influence  of  his  philosophy  has 
been  felt  at  last,  and  a  self-seeking  world  has 
paused  in  its  mad  rush  to  pay  him  a  tribute. 

Yes,  the  world  has  recognized  his  type,  seized 
his  point  of  view.  We  have  lived  to  see  monu 
ments  erected  to  his  memory.  The  painter, 
sculptor,  author,  scientist,  preacher,  all  have 
found  in  him  a  model  worthy  of  study  and 
serious  presentation.  Lorado  Taft's  colossal 

164 


Gifts  to  the  Nation  165 

"Black  Hawk"  stands  wrapped  in  his  stony 
blanket  upon  the  banks  of  the  Rock  River; 
while  the  Indian  is  to  keep  company  with  the 
Goddess  of  Liberty  in  New  York  Harbor, 
besides  many  other  statues  of  him  which  pre 
eminently  adorn  the  public  parks  and  halls  of 
our  cities. 

No  longer  does  the  red  man  live  alone  in  the 
blood-curdling  pages  of  the  sensational  story- 
writer.  He  is  the  subject  of  profound  study  as 
a  man,  a  philosopher,  a  noble  type  both  physi 
cally  and  spiritually.  Symmetrical  and  finely 
poised  in  body,  the  same  is  true  of  his  character. 
He  stands  naked  before  you,  scorning  the  garb 
of  deception  and  pretence,  for  he  is  a  true  child 
of  nature. 

How  has  he  contributed  to  the  world's  prog 
ress?  By  his  personal  faithfulness  to  duty  and 
devotion  to  a  trust.  He  has  not  advertised 
his  faithfulness  nor  made  capital  of  his  honor. 
Again  and  again  he  has  proved  his  worth  as  a 
citizen  of  his  country  and  of  the  world  by  his 
constancy  in  the  face  of  hardship  and  death. 
Racial  antagonism  was  to  him  no  excuse  for 
breaking  his  word.  This  simplicity  and  fairness 
has  cost  him  dear;  it  cost  his  country  and  his 
freedom,  even  the  extinction  of  his  race  as  a 


1 66  The  Indian  To-day 

separate  and  peculiar  people;  but  as  a  type,  an 
ideal,  he  lives  and  will  live! 

The  red  man's  genius  for  military  tactics  and 
strategy  has  been  admitted  again  and  again  by 
those  who  have  fought  against  him,  often  un 
willingly,  because  they  saw  that  he  was  in  the 
right.  His  long,  unequal  struggle  against  the 
dominant  race  has  produced  a  brilliant  array 
of  notable  men  without  education  in  letters. 
Such  were  King  Philip  of  the  Wampanoags; 
Pontiac,  the  great  Ottawa;  Cornplanter  of  the 
Senecas,  in  the  eighteenth  century;  while  in  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  we  have  Weatherford 
of  the  Creeks,  Tecumseh  of  the  Shawnees,  Little 
Turtle  of  the  Miamis,  Wabashaw  and  Wanatan 
of  the  Sioux,  Black  Hawk  of  the  Foxes,  Osceola 
of  the  Seminoles.  During  the  last  half  of  the 
century  there  arose  another  set  of  Indian  leaders, 
the  last  of  their  type — such  men  as  Ouray  of 
the  Utes,  Geronimo  of  the  Apaches,  Red  Cloud, 
Spotted  Tail,  and  Sitting  Bull  of  the  Sioux, 
Chief  Joseph  of  the  Nez  Perces,  and  Dull  Knife 
of  the  Northern  Cheyennes.  Men  like  these  are 
an  ornament  to  any  country. 

It  has  been  said  that  their  generalship  was 
equal  to  that  of  Caesar  or  Napoleon;  even  greater 
considering  that  here  was  no  organization,  no 


Gifts  to  the  Nation  167 

treasury,  or  hope  of  spoils,  or  even  a  stable  gov 
ernment  behind  them.  They  displayed  their 
leadership  under  conditions  in  which  Napoleon 
would  have  failed.  As  regards  personal  bravery, 
no  man  could  outdo  them.  After  Jackson  had 
defeated  the  Creeks,  he  demanded  of  them  the 
war  chief  Weatherford,  dead  or  alive.  The 
following  night  Weatherford  presented  himself 
alone  at  the  general's  tent,  saying:  "I  am  Wea 
therford;  do  as  you  please  with  me.  I  would 
be  still  fighting  you  had  I  the  warriors  to  fight 
with;  but  they  no  longer  answer  my  call,  for 
they  are  dead." 

Chief  Joseph,  who  conducted  that  masterly 
retreat  of  eleven  hundred  miles,  burdened  with 
his  women  and  children,  the  old  men  and  the 
wounded,  surrendered  at  last,  as  he  told  me  in 
Washington,  because  he  could  "bear  no  longer 
the  sufferings  of  the  innocent."  These  men 
were  not  bloodthirsty  or  wanton  murderers; 
they  were  as  gentle  at  home  as  they  were  terrific 
in  battle.  Chief  Joseph  would  never  harm  a 
white  woman  or  child,  and  more  than  once  helped 
non-combatants  to  a  place  of  safety. 

In  oratory  and  unstudied  eloquence  the 
American  Indian  has  at  times  equalled  even  the 
lofty  flights  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  The 


1 68  The  Indian  To-day 

noted  Red  Jacket,  perhaps  the  greatest  orator 
and  philosopher  of  primitive  America,  was  de 
clared  by  the  late  Governor  Clinton  of  New 
York  to  be  the  equal  of  Demosthenes.  Presi 
dent  Jefferson  called  the  best-known  speech  of 
Logan,  the  Mingo  chief,  the  "height" of  human 


utterance." 


Now  let  us  consider  some  of  his  definite  con 
tributions  to  the  birth  and  nurture  of  the  United 
States.  We  have  borrowed  his  emblem,  the 
American  eagle,  which  matches  well  his  bold 
and  aspiring  spirit.  It  is  impossible  to  forget 
that  his  country  and  its  freely  offered  hospitality 
are  the  very  foundation  of  our  national  existence, 
but  his  services  as  a  scout  and  soldier  have 
scarcely  been  valued  at  their  true  worth. 

THE    INDIAN    SOLDIER   AND    SCOUT 

^The  name  of  Washington  is  immortal;  but 

^who  remembers  that  he  was  safely  guided  by  a 

nameless  red  man  through  the  pathless  wilder- 

t^ness  to  Fort  Duquesne?     Washington  made  a 

•successful  advance  upon  the  British  army  at 

Trenton,  on  Christmas  Eve;  but  Delaware  In- 

^dians  had  reported  to  him  their  situation,  and 

,/made  it  possible  for  the  great  general  to  hit  his 

tenemy  hard  at  an  opportune  moment.     It  is  a 


Gifts  to  the  Nation  169 

fact  that  Washington's  ability  was  shown  by 
his  confidence  in  the  word  of  the  Indians  and  in 
their  safe  guidance. 

In  the  French  and  Indian  wars  there  is  abun 
dant  evidence  that  both  armies  depended  largely 
upon  the  natives,  and  that  when  they  failed  to 
take  the  advice  of  their  savage  allies  they  gen 
erally  met  with  disaster.  This  advice  was 
valuable,  not  only  because  the  Indians  knew 
the  country,  but  because  their  strategy  was  of  a 
high  order.  The  reader  may  have  seen  at  Fort 
George  the  statue  of  Sir  William  Johnson  and 
King  Hendrix,  the  Mohawk  chief.  The  latter 
holds  in  his  hand  a  bundle  of  sticks.  Tradition 
says  that  the  chief  was  arguing  against  the  di 
vision  of  their  forces  to  meet  the  approaching 
French  army,  saying:  "If  we  are  to  fight,  we 
are  too  few:  if  we  are  to  die,  we  are  too  many!" 

As  an  Indian,  and  having  often  heard  my 
people  discuss  strategic  details,  I  am  almost 
sure  that  the  chief  anticipated  the  tactics  of  the 
enemy;  and  the  pathetic -sequel  is  that  he  was 
selected  to  lead  a  portion  of  the  English  forces 
to  Fort  Edward  that  morning,  and  when  only  a 
mile  or  so  out  was  ambushed  by  the  enemy. 
He  stood  his  ground,  urging  his  men  to  face  the 
foe;  and  when  he  was  shot  dead,  they  were  so 


1 70  The  Indian  To-day 

enraged  that  with  extraordinary  valor  they 
routed  the  French,  and  thus  Hendrix  in  dying 
was  really  the  means  of  saving  Forts  George 
and  Edward  for  the  colonists. 

History  says  that  Braddock  was  defeated  and 
lost  his  life  at  Fort  Duquesne  because  he  had 
neglected  and  disregarded  his  Indian  scouts,  who 
accordingly  left  him,  and  he  had  no  warning  of 
the  approach  of  the  foe.  Again,  the  Seminole 
war  in  Florida  was  a  failure  so  long  as  no  Indians 
were  found  who  were  willing  to  guide  the  army, 
and  the  Government  was  compelled  to  make 
terms,  while  the  swift  and  overwhelming  defeat 
of  the  Creeks,  a  much  stronger  nation,  was  due 
more  to  the  Cherokee  and  Chickasaw  scouts 
than  to  the  skill  of  General  Jackson.  Of  course, 
once  the  army  is  guided  to  an  Indian  village, 
and  the  warriors  are  surprised  in  the  midst  of 
their  women  and  children,  the  civilized  folk, 
with  superior  weapons  and  generally  superior 
numbers,  has  every  advantage. 
^The  Indian  system  of  scouting  has  long  been 
^recognized  as  one  of  the  most  useful  adjuncts 
of  war.  His  peculiar  and  efficient  methods  of 
communication  in  the  field  by  means  of  blanket 
signals,  smoke  signals,  the  arrangement  of  rock- 
piles,  and  by  heliograph  (small  mirrors  or 


Gifts  to  the  Nation  171 

reflectors),  the  last,  of  course,  in  more  modern 
days,  have  all  been  made  use  of  at  one  time  or 
another  by  the  United  States  Army.  It  is  in 
teresting  evidence  of  the  world-wide  respect  for 
our  strategy  and  methods,  that  when  the  Boer 
commission  came  to  Washington  a  few  years 
ago  i  Mr.  Wessel  called  upon  me  to  advise  him 
how  he  might  secure  one  thousand  Sioux  and 
Cheyenne  scouts  in  their  war  against  Great 
Britain.  Of  course  I  told  him  that  it  could  not 
be  done:  that  I  would  not  involve  my  country 
in  an  international  difficulty.  I  was  similarly 
approached  during  the  Russo-Japanese  war. 
*  The  aid  of  friendly  Indians  in  the  case  of  mas 
sacres  and  surprises  of  the  whites  must  not  be 
overlooked.  It  may  be  recalled  that  some  Cher 
okee  warriors,  returning  from  Washington's  later 
successful  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne, 
were  murdered  in  their  sleep  by  white  fron 
tiersmen  after  giving  them  friendly  lodging. 
Here  again  is  brought  out  the  genuine  greatness 
of  the  Indian  character.  The  Cherokees  felt 
keenly  this  treacherous  outrage  by  the  very 
people  to  whom  they  had  just  sacrificed  the 
best  blood  of  their  young  men  in  their  war 
against  the  French.  Some  declared  their  in 
tention  of  killing  every  white  man  they  could 


172  The  Indian  To-day 

find  in  retaliation  for  such  unprovoked  murder; 
but  the  chief  Ottakullakulla  calmly  arose  and 
addressed  the  excited  assembly: 
^  "Let  us  have  consideration,"  said  he,  "for 
our  white  neighbors  who  are  not  guilty  of  this 
deed.  We  must  not  violate  our  faith  or  the 
laws  of  hospitality  by  imbruing  our  hands  in  the 
blood  of  those  who  are  now  in  our  power.  They 
came  to  us  in  the  confidence  of  a  pledged  friend 
ship;  let  us  conduct  them  safely  back  within 
their  own  confines  before  we  take  up  the 
hatchet!" 

He  carried  his  point  to  some  extent,  and  him 
self  saved  Captain  Stewart,  his  friend,  by  giving 
up  all  of  his  property  to  ransom  him.  In  diffi 
culties  between  the  races  since  colonial  times 
there  has  been  an  unbroken  record  of  heroic 
work  in  the  rescue  of  missionaries  and  other 
white  persons  resident  among  the  Indians  by 
their  native  converts  and  friends.  In  the  Min 
nesota  Sioux  outbreak  of  1862  there  were  many 
notable  instances.  A  man  named  Arrow  stood 
beside  Mr.  Spencer  and  dared  the  infuriated 
warriors  to  touch  him.  There  were  over  two 
hundred  white  captives  saved  by  friendly  In 
dians  and  delivered  to  General  Sibley  at  Camp 
Release.  During  the  following  December  some 


Gifts  to  the  Nation  173 

young  Yanktonnais  Sioux  voluntarily  ransomed 
and  delivered  up  two  white  women  and  four 
children.  I  knew  some  of  these  men  well; 
among  them  Fast  Walking,  who  carried  one  of 
the  children  on  his  back  to  safety,  after  giving 
his  own  horse  to  redeem  him.  Seldom  have 
such  deeds  been  rewarded  or  even  appreciated. 
When  these  men  became  old  and  feeble  an  at 
tempt  was  made  to  have  them  recompensed 
by  Congressional  appropriation,  but  so  far  as 
I  am  informed  it  has  been  unsuccessful. 

I  do  not  wish  to  disparage  any  one,  but  I  do 
say  that  the  virtues  claimed  by  "Christian  civ 
ilization"  are  not  peculiar  to  any  culture  or 
religion.  My  people  were  very  simple  and  un 
practical — the  modern  obstacle  to  the  fulfilment 
of  the  Christ  ideal.  Their  strength  lay  in  self- 
denial.  Not  only  men,  but  women  of  the  race 
have  served  the  nation  at  most  opportune  mo 
ments  in  the  history  of  this  country. 

HISTORIC    INDIAN   WOMEN 

j,  It  is  remembered  that  Pocahontas  saved 
the  first  Virginia  colony  from  utter  destruction 
because  of  her  love  for  Captain  John  Smith, 
who  was  the  heart  and  brain  of  the  colony. 
It  was  the  women  of  the  Oneida  and  Stock- 


174  The  Indian  To-day 

bridge  Indians  who  advised  their  men  not  to 
join  King  Philip  against  the  New  England  col 
onies,  and,  later,  pointed  out  the  wisdom  of 
maintaining  neutrality  during  the  war  of  the 
Revolution. 

Perhaps  no  greater  service  has  been  rendered 
by  any  Indian  girl  to  the  white  race  than  by 
Catherine,  the  Ojibway  maid,  at  the  height  of 
Pontiac's  great  conspiracy.  Had  it  not  been 
for  her  timely  warning  of  her  lover,  Captain 
Gladwyn,  Fort  Detroit  would  have  met  the  same 
fate  as  the  other  forts,  and  the  large  number  of 
Indians  who  held  the  siege  for  three  months 
would  have  scattered  to  wipe  out  the  border 
settlements  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania.  The 
success  of  Pontiac  would  certainly  have  delayed 
the  settlement  of  the  Ohio  valley  for  many  years. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Catherine  was 
moved  to  give  her  warning  by  anything  save 
her  true  womanly  instincts.  She  stood  between 
two  races,  and  in  her  love  and  bravery  cut  short 
a  struggle  that  might  have  proved  too  full  of 
caprice  and  cruelty  on  both  sides.  She  was 
civilization's  angel,  and  should  have  a  niche  in 
history  beside  Pocahontas. 

Sacajawea,  the  young  Indian  mother  who 
guided  Lewis  and  Clark  in  their  glorious  expedi- 


Gifts  to  the  Nation  175 

tion  to  the  Pacific,  was  another  brave  woman. 
It  is  true  that  she  was  living  in  captivity,  but 
according  to  Indian  usage  that  would  not  affect 
her  social  position.  It  does  not  appear  that 
she  joined  the  expedition  in  order  to  regain  her 
tribe,  but  rather  from  a  sense  of  duty  and  pur 
pose  of  high  usefulness.  Not  only  as  guide,  but 
as  interpreter,  and  in  rescuing  the  records  of 
the  expedition  when  their  canoe  was  overturned 
in  the  Missouri  River,  the  "Bird  Woman"  was 
of  invaluable  aid,  and  is  a  true  heroine  of  the 
annals  of  exploration. 


THE  CHILDREN'S  HERO 


Nearly  all  the  early  explorers  owed  much  to 
the  natives.  Who  told  the  white  men  of  the 
wonders  of  the  Yellowstone  Park  and  the 
canyon  of  the  Colorado?  Who  guided  them 
and  served  them  without  expectation  of  credit 
or  honor?  It  is  a  principle  among  us  to  serve 
friend  or  guest  to  the  utmost,  and  in  the  old 
days  it  was  considered  ill-bred  to  ask  for  any 
remuneration.  To-day  we  have  a  new  race, 
the  motive  of  whose  actions  is  the  same  as  that 
of  a  civilized  man.  Nothing  is  given  unless  an 
equivalent  is  returned,  or  even  a  little  more  if 
he  can  secure  it.  Yet  the  inherent  racial  traits 


176  The  Indian  To-day 

are  there:  latent,  no  doubt,  but  still  there.  The 
red  man  still  retains  his  love  of  service;  his  love 
for  his  country.  Once  he  has  pledged  his  word 

""to  defend  the  American  flag,  he  stands  by  it 
manfully. 

^  In  the  Civil  War  many  Indians  fought  on 
both  sides,  some  of  them  as  officers.  General 
Grant  had  a  full-blood  Indian  on  his  staff: 
Col.  Ely  Parker,  afterward  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Affairs.  At  one  time  in  recent  years  a 
company  of  Indians  was  recruited  in  the  regular 

*army,  and  individual  red  men  are  still  rendering 
good  service  in  both  army  and  navy  (thirty- 
five  ex-students  of  Carlisle  alone),  as  well  as  in 

/other  branches  of  the  Federal  service.  We  have 
lived  to  see  men  of  our  blood  in  the  councils  of 
the  nation,  and  an  Indian  Register  of  the  Treas 
ury,  who  must  sign  all  our  currency  before  it  is 
valid.  An  Indian  head  is  on  the  five-dollar  bill 
and  the  new  nickel. 

George  Guess,  or  Sequoyah,  the  inventor  of 
the  Cherokee  alphabet,  is  the  only  red  man  ad 
mitted  to  the  nation's  Hall  of  Fame  in  the 
Capitol  at  Washington.  The  Indian  languages, 
more  than  fifty  in  number,  are  better  appreci 
ated  and  more  studied  to-day  than  ever  before. 
Half  our  states  have  Indian  names,  and  more 


Gifts  to  the  Nation  177 

than  that  proportion  of  our  principal  lakes  and 
rivers.  These  names  are  as  richly  sonorous  as 
they  are  packed  with  significance,  and  our  grand 
children  will  regret  it  if  we  suffer  the  tongues 
that  gave  them  birth  to  die  out  and  be  forgotten. 

Best  of  all,   perhaps,  we   are   beginning  to 
recognize  the  Indian's  good  sense  and  sanity 
in  the  way  of  simple  living  and   the   mastery 
of  the  great  out  of  doors.     Like  him,  the  wisest 
Americans  are  living,  playing,  and  sleeping  in* 
the  open  for  at  least  a  part  of  the  year,  receiving 
the  vital  benefits  of  the  pure  air  and  sunlight. 
His  deeds  are  carved  upon  the  very  rocks;  the 
names  he  loved  to  speak  are  fastened  upon  the*' 
landscape;  and  he  still  lives  in  spirit,  silently 
leading  the  multitude,  for  the  new  generation^ 
have  taken  him  for  their  hero  and  model. 

I  call  upon  the  parents  of  America  to  give 
their  fullest  support  to  those  great  organizations, 
the  Boy  Scouts  and  the  Camp  Fire  Girls.  The 
young  people  of  to-day  are  learning  through  this  " 
movement  much  of  the  wisdom  of  the  first 
American.  In  the  mad  rush  for  wealth  we 
have  too  long  overlooked  the  foundations  of 
our  national  welfare.  The  contribution  of  the 
American  Indian,  though  considerable  from  any 
point  of  view,  is  not  to  be  measured  by  material 


178  The  Indian  To-day 

acquirement.     Its   greatest   worth   is   spiritual 


and  philosophical.     He  will  live,  not  only  in 
splendor  of  his  past,  the  poetry  of  his  legends 
and  his  art,  not  only  in  the  interfusion  of  his 
blood  with  yours,  and  his  faithful  adherence  to* 
the  new  ideals  of  American  citizenship,  but  in  , 
the  living  thought  of  the  nation. 


THE     END 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

THE  documents  chiefly  used  in  the  prepara 
tion  of  this  book,  aside  from  the  author's  own 
observations  and  personal  knowledge,  were  the 
annual  reports  of  the  United  States  Commis 
sioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  of  the  United  States 
Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  and  of  the 
Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  the  proceedings 
of  the  Mohonk  Indian  Conferences,  and  of  re 
ligious  and  philanthropic  societies  engaged  in 
Indian  work;  also  the  reports  and  magazines 
published  by  the  larger  Indian  schools,  especially 
Carlisle  and  Hampton.  The  following  list  of 
books  about  the  North  American  Indian  is  not 
presented  as  complete  in  any  sense,  but  merely 
as  a  suggestive  guide  to  the  reader  who  wishes 
to  pursue  the  subject  further: 

EARLY    STUDENTS    AND    EXPLORERS 

NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS.  .  .  Geo.  Catlin 
BIOGRAPHY  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE 

INDIANS  OF  N.  A Drake 

179 


180  The  Indian  To-day 

WORKS  OF  ....  John  G.  Heckewelder 
INDIANS  OF  NORTH 

AMERICA  ....  Henry  R.  Schooler  aft 

THE  OREGON  TRAIL Parkman 

THE  JESUITS  IN  NORTH 

AMERICA Parkman 

JESUIT  RELATIONS  ....  Edited  by  Shea 

INDIAN   MISSIONS 

MARY  AND  I;  OR  FORTY  YEARS 

AMONG  THE  Sioux  .  .  John  Williamson 
LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HARE  .  .  .  De  Wolf  Howe 
A  QUAKER  AMONG  THE  INDIANS  .  T.  C.  Battey 
FATHER  JUNIPERO  AND  THE  MISSION 

INDIANS  OF  CALIFORNIA H.  H. 

LEGENDS    AND    FOLKLORE 

BLACKFOOT  LODGE  TALES  .  G.  B.  Grinnell 
PAWNEE  HERO  STORIES  .  .  G.  B.  Grinnell 
ALGONQUIN  LEGENDS  OF  NEW 

ENGLAND Chas.  G.  Leland 

THE  LENAPE  AND  THEIR 

LEGENDS Daniel  Brinton 

THE  MAN  WHO  MARRIED  THE 

MOON  AND  OTHER  PUEBLO 

FOLK  TALES  .     .     .      Chas.  F.  Lummis 


Bibliography  181 

MUSIC    AND    ART 

THE  INDIANS'  BOOK  ....  Natalie  Curtis 
INDIAN  BASKETRY  .  .  .  George  W.  James 
INDIAN  STORY  AND  SONG  .  Alice  C.  Fletcher 
PRIMITIVE  INDIAN  Music  .  Frederick  Burton 

MODERN    WRITERS 

THE  VANISHING  RACE  .  .  Joseph  K.  Dixon 
THE  STORY  OF  THE  INDIAN  .  G.  B.  Grinnell 
THE  INDIANS  OF  TO-DAY  .  .  G.  B.  Grinnell 
NORTH  AMERICANS  OF 

YESTERDAY Dellenbaugh 

MY  FRIEND  THE  INDIAN  .  James  McLaughlin 
WHAT  THE  WHITE  MAN  MAY  LEARN 

FROM  THE  INDIAN  .  .  .  .  G.  W.  James 
INDIAN  CHIEFS  I  HAVE  KNOWN  .  0.  0.  Howard 
LIVES  OF  FAMOUS  INDIAN 

CHIEFS        .......      N.B.Wood 

A  CENTURY  OF  DISHONOR  Helen  Hunt  Jackson 

(H.  H.) 

THE  INDIAN  DISPOSSESSED  .  SettiK.  Humphrey 
INDIAN  SKETCHES  .  .  .  Cornelia  S.  Hulst 
EDUCATION  OF  THE  INDIAN 

(Pamphlet) Hailmann 

THE  AMERICAN  INDIAN  .  Warren  K.  Moorehead 


• 


1 82  The  Indian  To-day 

THE  INDIAN  IN  RELATION  TO  THE 
WHITE  POPULATION  OF  THE  U.  S. 
(Pamphlet) F.  A.  McKenzie 

FICTION 

RAMON  A       Helen  Hunt  Jackson 

Two  WILDERNESS  VOYAGERS  .  F.  W.  Calkins 
THE  WOOING  OF  TOKALA  .  .  F .  W.  Calkins 
AN  INDIAN  WINTER  ..../.  W.  Schultz 
CHILDHOOD  OF  JISHIB  THE  OJIB- 

WAY A.  E.  Jenks 

THE  MIDDLE  FIVE  .  .  .  Francis  La  Flesche 
THE  OJIBWAY James  Gilfillan 


TABLE  OF  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

(Compiled  by  the  Office  of  Indian  Affairs,) 


ARIZONA 

Camp  McDowell 
Colorado  River 
Fort  Apache 
Gila  Bend 
Gila  River 
Havasupai 
Hopi 
Navajo 


Salt  Kiver 
San  Carlos 
Walapai 

CALIFORNIA 

Digger 
Hupa  Valley 
Mission  (28  reserves) 
Round  Valley 
Tule  River 
Yuma 


Ute 


COLORADO 


IDAHO 


Coeur  d'Alene 
Fort  Hall 


Lapwai 
Lemhi 

IOWA 
Sauk  and  Fox 

KANSAS 

Chippewa  and  Munsee 

Iowa 

Kickapoo 

Potawatomie 

Sauk  and  Fox 

MICHIGAN 

Isabella 
L'Anse 
Ontonagon 

MINNESOTA 

Bois  Fort 
Deer  Creek 
Fond  du  Lac 
Grand  Portage 
Leech  Lake 
Mdewakanton 
Mille  Lac 
Red  Lake 
Vermillion  Lake 


183 


184 


The  Indian  To-day 


White  Earth 
White  Oak  Point  and 
Chippewa 

MONTANA 

Blackfeet 

Crow 

Fort  Belknap 

Fort  Peck 

Jocko 

Northern  Cheyenne 

NEBRASKA 

Niobrara 

Omaha 

Ponca 

Sioux  (additional) 

Winnebago 

NEVADA 

Duck  Valley 
Moapa  River 
Pyramid  Lake 
Walker  River 

NEW  MEXICO 

Jicarilla  Apache 
Mescalero  Apache 
Pueblos  (20  reserves) 

NEW  YORK 

Allegany 
Cattaraugus 
Oil  Spring 
Oneida 
Onondaga 
St.  Regis 


Tonawanda 
Tuscarora 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

Qualla  Boundary 
(Cherokee) 

NORTH  DAKOTA 

Devil's  Lake 
Fort  Berthold 
Standing  Rock 
Turtle  Mountain 

OKLAHOMA 

Cherokee 

Cheyenne  and  Arapahoe 

Chickasaw 

Chocktaw 

Creek 

Iowa 

Kansa  or  Kaw 

Kickapoo 

Kiowa  and  Comanche 

Modoc 

Oakland 

Osage 

Otoe 

Ottawa 

Pawnee 

Peoria 

Ponca 

Potawatomie 

Quapaw 

Sauk  and  Fox 

Seminole 

Seneca 

Shawnee 


Table  of  Indian  Reservations         185 


Wichita 
Wyandot 

OREGON 

Grande  Ronde 

Klamath 

Siletz 

Umatilla 
Warm  Springs 

SOUTH  DAKOTA 

Crow   Creek   and  Old 

Winnebago 
Lake  Traverse 
Cheyenne  River 
Lower  Brule 
Pine  Ridge 
Rosebud 
Yankton 

UTAH 

Uintah  Valley 
Uncompahgre 

WASHINGTON 

Chehalis 

Columbia 

Colville 


Hoh  River 

Lummi 

Makah 

Muckleshoot 

Nisqually 

Ozette 

Fort  Madison 

Puyallup 

Quileute 

Quinaiette 

Shoalwater 

Skokomish 

Snohomish  or  Tulalip 

Spokan 

Squaxon  Island 

Swinomish 

Yakima 

WISCONSIN 

Lac  Court  Oreille 
Lac  du  Flambeau 
La  Pointe 
Red  Cliff 
Menominee 
Oneida 
Stockbridge 

WYOMING 
Wind  River 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 
GARDEN  CITY,  N.  Y. 


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